


Out of Scent, Out of Sight, Out of Mind

by Alaskaa (kosmicdust)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha Allura (Voltron), Alpha Hunk (Voltron), Alpha Lance (Voltron), Alpha Shiro (Voltron), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Beta Pidge | Katie Holt, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Klance au, Like, Multi, Omega Keith (Voltron), Omega Shay (Voltron), Teacher Coran (Voltron), actually there might be smut, idk man, if i find a way to write it without it being completely detrimental to keith's character arc, klance, no smut? in an abo fic? crazy right?, surprisingly slow burn, the second half of these tags are bad, the storyline got lost somewhere, thirty chapters in kind of slow, whoops
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-04-16 00:29:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 28
Words: 34,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14152719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kosmicdust/pseuds/Alaskaa
Summary: Keith always knew he was meant for more than some domestic life with an alpha, where he was treated like a slave and never got to follow his dreams. No, Keith wanted to be free- he wanted to go to school, he wanted to avoid the auctions once he turned eighteen, he wanted to be more.Keith absolutely hates society.When his plan seems to be working, it's ruined by an alpha named Lance McClain.





	1. Chapter 1

Keith knew how the world worked. He had always known, and it was something that he had learned in a way he never wanted to remember. No matter how much Keith tried to suppress the memory, it always came back to haunt him.

He had been far too young to be exposed to the world in some people's points of view, but that was for the rich, pampered alphas who were paraded around the moment their secondary gender was revealed. It wasn't meant for Keith, who had been the product of a disgusting, wealthy alpha who had forced Keith's mother into the relationship, and that alpha hadn't even been the alpha that she was bound to. It had been one of his _friends_. He had basically whored Keith's mother out during heats. In the world, it was considered shameful to be without at least two potential heirs and not have a pregnant omega. Keith's mother, whose name he never knew, had only been one of the many who had belonged to that alpha.

Keith would have been among them eventually had it not been for that night.

Keith's mother had disobeyed that day in refusing to give up little Keith. All of the children who ended up being omega were forced away to some unknown place, where there were only whispered rumors of what was done to the children. In the past, sending omega children away wouldn't happen so soon because there was only the option to wait and see if they ended up in heat. Now, it was just clinical trials that got it over with quickly. Keith's mother had refused to let him go there.

Furious, the alpha had ended up raping her until she could barely breathe, but that gave Keith an opportunity to escape before the alpha noticed. The escape attempt had been successful, and Keith hadn't had to see him since. Well, not in the flesh, at least. That alpha was still practically ruling the world, but he only took care of places where there were laws. In the underworld, nobody paid an escaped omega much mind, especially a child. They couldn't even smell him since he was so young.

For a while, Keith had a bounty on him- imagine, a four-year-old running away from... him? It seemed almost ridiculous, but once he turned seven, Keith didn't see any more wanted alerts with his face on it.

Ever since he had escaped, Keith had been exposed to the real world- one where if he played it right, nobody cared what he was, because they assumed he was an alpha anyway. Keith started training from a young age, at first in street fights with the orphans and the poor, which earned him money at the same time. As he got older, he was able to use the gym and become strong. Keith became strong enough to not wish desperately that he had someone in the world, that he needed a person with him.

Keith didn't need to rely on someone. Just because he was an omega, even though nobody knew, since he had gotten the scent blockers- he didn't need someone to "guide him" until they got close enough to trap him in a cage.

He knew how the world worked.

He knew that he could be better than what they thought he was.

...

"Keith Kogane," he said, sliding the- forged- papers towards the man sitting at the desk in front of him, along with an essay that he had found out he needed while using a library computer. Of course, Keith hadn't gone to an actual school, but that didn't mean he was stupid. Keith had taught himself more than what most people would take out of lower education, anyway.

The man at the desk looked them over, then nodded. "So you're requesting a full-ride scholarship?"

Keith nodded vigorously. "Yes. I- I don't have any money to pay for college." Of course he didn't, because he had blown it all on scent blockers, heat repressors, and getting these fake papers made. Faking his entire life wasn't very easy.

"I'll see what I can do," the man said with a small sigh. He gave an obviously false smile and added, "Check back tomorrow. They'll have made a choice by then. We're quick here at Arus University."

"Thanks." Keith turned around and left.

While he walked down the city streets, Keith thought about what he had just made the decision to do. Go to university. That was kind of a big deal. He didn't have anyone to celebrate it with if this was something worth celebrating. Truth to be told, Keith didn't know much about the people in the world, other than alphas, which meant bad, betas, which meant just "there", and omegas, which Keith needed to avoid, because they would figure it out. He had no idea if going to university was important for other people.

Well, it was important for him. That was enough for Keith. His eye caught on a jacket in a store window, a cropped red one. Since he wouldn't have to buy any "omega stuff" for a few months, and he wouldn't have to pay for university- if he got in, although Keith didn't see why he wouldn't- so it was fair to treat himself to something nice. Keith never bought anything nice.

So Keith bought the jacket, and he put it on. Despite not covering much, it was surprisingly warm. That would be helpful. Keith was currently crashing in an abandoned apartment that he had cleaned up, and it was cold, even in summer. There were rumors that the apartment had been abandoned because it was haunted, but Keith doubted it. He was an expert in all things supernatural, and he couldn't really feel anything off about the place, other than the cold.

Okay, maybe it was a bit weird that he considered himself a ghost expert- or really, an expert in legends. Not legends, according to him, not that anyone ever listened. Keith had a lot of time for himself in the past ten years once he wasn't on the run, so he had ended up gravitating towards things like the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, Moth- anyway. Keith had a lot of time to do nothing.

How had his thoughts even turned in this direction?

Keith shook his head. He got the idea from the odd looks other people shot him that he was strange, but Keith didn't really care. As long as they left him the hell alone and never realized he was an omega, he would be okay. Everything would be okay.

...

The next morning, Keith dragged himself off the floor and went to Arus University, which was where he had been yesterday. Keith hadn't seen much of the campus since he was mostly in an office the first time, but all he needed to know was that it was huge- bigger than any place he'd ever been before, other than the place where he was born- but he barely remembered that place anyway. Keith just had to keep his shit together and not get lost or freak out.

Keith walked into the same office as yesterday, and the same man smiled that same fake smile at him.

Why did things never change? Only another metaphor for how hopeless his situation was.

Keith returned his attention to the man in front of him. He had begun talking, mostly spouting random nonsense. Now that he thought about it, this guy was annoying, and the mustache-twirling was kind of getting on Keith's nerves.

"Ah, I remember my first day. 'Twas a gorgeous day, for a gorgeous man! There was Mister Alfor, he became my mentor. Oh, good memories." Noticing Keith's annoyed look, the man added on, "Oh! Yes, you've received your full scholarship, and just in time indeed. All the information you need is over there." He pointed towards lists posted on the wall.

Keith nodded. "Thanks." He walked away before the man could say anything more.

The lists contained information on dorm rooms- he hadn't thought about that. Keith would be sharing a room with someone. Some stranger. With his luck, an alpha. That... would be a problem. He would figure it out later.

There was another list, a long one, that contained every student's class schedule. Keith found his name and let out a breath. There was nothing wrong with it. Astronomy first, piloting second, off period, and astrophysics last. Nothing Keith didn't know. Exactly what he had requested.

Keith turned back to the dorm list. He was on the third floor, room twelve, and sharing with someone named Lance McClain.

This would be fun.

Keith reminded himself of everything as he walked up the stairs. Alphas were in control of everything. Betas were accepted but were a step below alphas. Alphas and betas were the ones he saw every day, walked the streets with, and would soon be studying with. Keith wasn't sure which angle he should play- alpha or beta? On the bonus side, nobody expected an alpha to be submissive, which Keith refused to do ever again. But betas were more likely to stay under the radar.

He decided to fly with whatever his new roommate thought he was. That would be easiest to fake if that was what... Lance? thought he was anyway.

Under no circumstances could anyone find out he was an omega. If someone discovered Keith's secret, he would be not only kicked out of Voltron University, he would be forced back into what could only be considered slavery at the feet of an alpha- probably back to... him. Or maybe to whatever horror Keith's mother had saved him from. Then Keith would be forced to participate in the auction, and... he would probably buy Keith.

No. Omegas were meant only to be toys, and Keith refused to do that. He would not be discovered, and he would become a spaceship pilot someday. That was what he was working towards. Keith wouldn't take no for an answer.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hello?" Keith called as he poked his head into the room. A lanky boy was sprawled across one of the beds, headphones covering his ears. Upon seeing Keith, his eyes lit up but was that a hint of something else...?

"Hey, new roomie! Welcome in!" the boy exclaimed. "Keith, right?"

Keith nodded cautiously. "Yeah. Lance?"

"Lance McClain, the one and only," he responded with a wink.

Keith sat down on the other bed. Lance's side of the room was filled with stuff already, while he had... nothing, really. There was his belt. His knife. That jacket he had bought. Other than that, Keith didn't carry anything else. Seeing Lance made Keith wish for something more.

No! No being... domestic. No being sentimental or weak. No being an omega.

"So, Keith, should I be worried about walking into the room with you on top of someone?"

Keith flushed red. "Excuse me?" He scratched the back of his neck. Wow, the room was really hot all of a sudden.

"Oh. I mean, you're pretty enough to rival an omega. Are you big on... y'know, having sex?"

"Fuck you," Keith muttered under his breath. Lance didn't suspect him of actually being an omega, but the comment set him on edge. Pretty? And god, that next sentence. No, Keith would not let himself get raped by some stupid alpha. "Why the hell would you ask that? And no. Absolutely not."

"Oh. Okay. That's good, I guess... and, um. Are you an alpha, then?" Lance asked, looking equally uncomfortable and embarrassed. Why? If he was so bothered by it, he shouldn't have said it in the first place!

Keith jumped at the opportunity. "Yeah! I'm, um, an alpha." Thank god Lance made one thing easier for him.

Lance looked kind of disappointed. He remained silent, and Keith realized he was waiting. "What are you, then?"

"An alpha, and proud," Lance said, puffing out his chest.

Keith barely resisted rolling his eyes. Of course, this guy would be an alpha. "Great for you, then."

Lance still looked unhappy about something, but Keith didn't know what it was about, nor did he care. Honestly, he was bothered and slightly confused that Lance had chosen to ask him something like that out of all the questions in the world. Taking a deep breath, Keith relaxed and let himself fall onto his back, staring up at the ceiling.

"Hey, Keith?"

"What." Keith's voice was gruff, and he was pretty much done with this guy.

"Sorry about... about before. Yeah. Um, what are you interested in?"

Keith sat up. "Space. And piloting."

"Oh cool, me too!" Lance exclaimed with a smile way too bright for the world. "Actually, all of my friends love space, but we all want to do different stuff except me and Shiro. We both want to be spaceship pilots. Maybe I can introduce them to you?"

More people really meant more people staring at Keith and trying to figure out his secrets. He hated the feeling, but he always got the vibe that something about him screamed, "LOOK AT ME TRY TO FIGURE THIS OUT!"

It was probably the fact that he was an omega. Keith knew that he still looked like an omega, despite trying to layer the muscle and angry emotions on top of it. That was confirmed by Lance's earlier statement. Keith probably released some sort of stupid chemical that made people look at him. Being an omega sucked.

"Uh- sure. Sounds like... fun."

"OKAY! Then let's go!" Lance practically shouted. Keith jumped, staring at him. "Sorry, was that too loud...?"

"Yeah," Keith grumbled, but he stood up and followed Lance out the door. He walked a step behind Lance, which he hated, but stupid instincts forced him to not speed up. Surely he could walk faster than Lance, but damn it, his body was going to betray him in the most stupid ways. This wasn't even useful to reproduction in any way! It was just some... submission thing.

"You okay there, buddy?" Lance asked him, glancing back, a frown on his face.

"Yeah, I'm- um- I'm fine." Tension knotted in Keith's stomach, and he hated it. Absolute, pure hatred. He wanted to hate Lance, too, but he couldn't.

Keith was so, so stupid. This was a terrible idea. Of course, something would go wrong. Someone would notice the things that he barely notices, things that he doesn't do intentionally. It was already going wrong. Lance would figure it out, or his friends, and...

"Are you having a panic attack or something?"

Keith flinched and glanced up. "Uh."

"Yeah, I know, I don't have a filter," Lance said, rolling his eyes. "But seriously, you don't look okay. You're all pale." His face softened into almost concern.

Keith swallowed. If Lance kept acting like this, all... nice... he'd never get through this. Why was he being so nice? It was kind of crazy if he was being honest. He shook his head furiously, trying to keep his expression neutral. Now that he was noticing it, Lance was really, really hot. Not just because he was an alpha, right? He didn't even have a lot of muscles or anything. Keith would have pegged him as a beta. It had absolutely nothing to do with biology.

"I'm fine," Keith repeated. "Really. Super great."

Lance shook his head. "All right. If you're sure. Maybe we can have my friend Pidge check you over?"

"No!" Keith exclaimed, really panicked. Why the fuck did Lance have a friend that knew anything about doctor stuff? Why did he have the worst luck? "Seriously. Just... just lay off already."

Lance frowned and nodded. His eyes scanned Keith's face, then crept downwards. Did this guy really have the nerve to check him out? Keith felt his face flush, and he scowled, walking past Lance, no matter how his instincts were trying to take control. Keith refused to let anyone get in his way. He would be the first omega to get through college, and nobody would ever know. That was the plan.

No stupid roommates to get in his way.

No stupid alphas and omegas.

No friends.

Just- get- through.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> someone help keef. he's socially awkward.

"Hey, guys!" Lance called as he opened a door. Keith looked over his shoulder to glance at the people on the other side. An alpha man with a scar and a white tuft of hair, a short beta who looked like a girl(but also like a boy at the same time?), a tall, white-haired alpha woman, and another alpha, who was heavyset with a kind smile.

"Oh, hey, Lance!" the smile one said. "We were wondering when you'd show up!"

"Who's that?" the short one asked, gesturing to Keith.

"This is my new roommate, Keith, since someone, and I mean _Hunk_ , didn't want to be my roommate," Lance explained, pointedly looking at the smile one.

"I couldn't take another year of your beauty products all over the place!" the smile one- Hunk?- exclaimed. "Boarding school is hard enough without you spewing your mess all over the room- and trying to make me _use_ it." He shivered.

Keith held back a snort at that. Boarding school? These guys went to boarding school together? And they thought that was hard. How the fuck did they expect to get through university? Unless school was a whole lot easier and different than Keith had thought, these guys were pretty sheltered, both academics-wise and in the ways of the world.

"Let's introduce ourselves," the scarred one offered. "Hi, Keith. I'm Shiro." He smiled gently.

"I'm Allura," the white-haired woman said. "Don't mind Lance. He's hopeless." Her prim accent startled Keith, but he tried not to let it show.

"Hey, I'm Hunk," the smile one said cheerfully. "Welcome to the group, Keith?"

"I'm Pidge, and yes, I'm a girl," the beta told Keith, "but I think Hunk really means, 'welcome to your nightmares'."

Like this could be anything like his nightmares. Unless they all figured him out and turned on him, Keith wouldn't be experiencing the stuff of nightmares with these people.

"The name's Lance McClain, but you knew that already." Lance winked and held up his hands in finger guns. Keith tried to stop the blush on his cheeks, he really did, but of course, his face still went red.

"Well," he stammered, "I'm Keith... yeah. I, um, like conspiracy theories?"

That was the wrong thing to say. Okay. Damn his antisocial personality.

"Ooh!" Pidge exclaimed, her face lighting up. "I love conspiracy theories! Ooh, or cryptids? Do you know cryptids? What's your favorite?"

"Uh, aliens? Or... or Mothman?"

"Wait, isn't that the one that's a guy with moth wings?" Shiro asked, confused. "How is that a theory? Or... or what's a 'cryptid'?"

"I thought he was a superhero," Allura offered, but her expression was just as confused as Shiro's.

"Come on, Mom and Dad. Even I knew that one!" Lance complained.

Allura rolled her eyes. "Please don't call us that anymore."

"But you're, like, our parents!" Hunk burst out.

"I guess it's okay..." Shiro ventured, glancing at Allura.

"Are you guys together?" Keith blurted out, confused.

Shiro and Allura looked startled for a moment before Shiro responded.

"Yeah? I forgot that people aren't used to alpha and alpha couples."

"Does it work?" Keith asked. "Like, um..."

"Let's not go there!" Pidge cried. "I don't want 'the talk' again!"

"If this is where we're going, I'm out," Hunk said.

"Keith, I think you'll fit right in with us," Lance declared, grinning. "You can be, like, the little awkward friend!"

"I'm not little!" Keith objected quickly, before glancing around the room. Shit, he was the second-shortest, only taller than Pidge. Why?

Oh. Right. Omega injustice. Short stature. What a tragedy.

"Sure you aren't, buddy," Lance chuckled.

"Anyway, do you guys want to look at classes together?" Shiro asked. "Since you guys are all freshman, Allura and I can show you around."

"All right" seemed to be the general consensus on that.

"Keith?" Allura asked, turning to him.

"Uhh... sure!" Did that sound overly excited? It wasn't like Keith didn't want to go... if he had solid people behind him, maybe he had a better chance of staying safe.

Stay safe and hidden. Don't let them know what you are. Keep your secrets. They'll never know if you play it right.


	4. Chapter 4

"And this is the commons, which is basically the center..."

Keith was only half-paying attention to the others' chatter. They were great, sure, and whatever they were saying was definitely important, but it was more important for Keith to stake out the dangers of this place. The greatest threat definitely came from the coffeehouse just inside campus, which was open to everyone. That meant there was a chance for other people to see him- maybe even alphas and their  _stupid, stupid omegas_.

It wasn't exactly that Keith had anything against omegas, but... why couldn't they stand up for themselves? If other omegas could just do what he was doing, then this whole problem would just go away, right? It was both infuriating and vomit-inducing to see omegas crawling over and obeying alpha, sometimes not even their own. Keith could respect a healthy relationship, like what Shiro and Allura seemed to have, but omegas and alphas together were painful together.

Love just didn't seem to exist between them.

Keith doesn't know what love feels like, but he's heard enough stories from alleyways that what's considered "average" with alphas and omegas that it wasn't right. Love should be equal, not forced on someone. Right?

It wasn't love to have a slave.

It wasn't love to buy someone and bite them just because of what they are. What they are shouldn't  _matter_ , it's  _who_.

Keith wouldn't be able to find out these things for sure unless some other omega just stopped being obedient and followed him to equality.

Why was it that nobody else in this world could see that?

"Keith, buddy, you okay? Are you sure you're not sick?" Oh. Lance. The others. Keith couldn't let himself be swept away by dreams of revolution when he was around these people.

"I'm  _fine_ ," Keith insisted, turning away, not looking at Lance, although,  _wow,_ it's nice to look at him. Right? No, none of that, everything would be ruined if Keith let some alpha take him away.

"You look like you need sleep," Pidge observed, a soft frown on her face- although that seemed to be more of her permanent expression than her emotions. "Where did you go to school?"

"Oh... um..." Shit. Okay. Uh, out of the country! Yeah! "I went to a school in... Korea."

"You've been to Korea?" Shiro asked curiously. "Can you speak the language?"

_No._

"Not really, I, er, went to an international school." Was that believable? Probably not. Pidge was looking at him with some weird glint in her eyes, and Keith probably needed to  _run_. All his instincts were shouting it. Don't let anybody figure anything out! It's-

Keith's inner scolding was stopped by Lance's hand on his shoulder. Why did that feel nice? This wasn't okay, Keith never said it was fine to like Lance. Why was Keith leaning into it a little bit? Why wasn't he just  _born a fucking alpha?_

"I need to finish unpacking," Keith lied, pulling away from Lance and running towards the first hallway he saw. It was a total lie, he had next to nothing to unpack, but maybe they would think that sounded realistic. They didn't know him, after all, and he didn't know them. No way could they see right through him that easily. Keith had tricked people for years. He had to just survive this.

But... they didn't know Keith. Who really knew Keith? Nobody. Not even Keith himself.

Keith slumped down against the nearest wall, everything seeming too loud and bright all of a sudden. Why was it so intense? Why was his pulse racing and his breath fast? Why was he  _scared_? It wasn't okay. Nothing was okay.

Tears silently streamed down his face, and he buried his head in bent legs. Sometimes, he really hated being alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> angsty keith is best keith
> 
> also, sorry for not writing much?
> 
> gotta get to the good stuff
> 
> just wait.
> 
> should I be putting slow burn up there??


	5. Chapter 5

Keith knew if he didn't show up soon and not have the room look any different, the others would be suspicious. Why had he let these people into his life? If they got to know him, they'd figure out all his fears, and how not  _alpha_ he was. Keith knew that, with his street attitude, he could pull off the acting at a basic level, but beyond that, he had almost nothing.

With that, Keith forced himself up off the floor. He washed his face with freezing water, washing away dried tears and hopefully getting rid of red-rimmed eyes that would show what he had really been doing. Keith then reorganized what little objects he had and ventured back into the world. It would be so much easier to just ignore Lance and all of his friends, but he felt himself being drawn to them anyway. It was stupid, but he craved attention and companionship. Maybe it was all of those years alone, maybe it was because of that omega nature- but whatever the reason was, it was there.

Keith looked at himself in the mirror. How had Lance identified his omega features so quickly? Yeah, he was short, but he didn't look soft, did he? There was a reason Keith had gone to the gym every day since he was allowed entrance. He had hated looking like something easy to just take away and force into being a toy...

 _Stop it, stop it, stop it_. Keith knew he had to end this- this going off into his head while ranting about the unfairness of the world. He knew he could end up saying it out loud, and maybe letting his secret slip. Even if Lance, Allura, Shiro, Pidge, and Hunk were nice, they were probably all law-abiding citizens that would throw him out easily just for forging the papers and having educated himself out on the streets, let alone being an omega illegally smuggling himself into university.

Besides, soon they would all be eighteen, including Keith, and the others would buy themselves some pretty omega and make themselves a nice company and six children... never using what Keith had worked his entire life for. Others would easily throw what they learned away and completely disregard what was  _right_ , losing themselves just for their idea of being domestic.

Keith would never fit into that equation. He didn't _want_ to fit into a life like that. Sometimes, he felt like a broken omega. Other times, he reminded himself that it was better to be a broken omega than a stupid one. His mother had told him to run, to get out, she had risked her life for him- he wouldn't throw it away like a privileged alpha.

 _You're doing it again_.

Keith turned away from the mirror and walked out the door, back into the world. The world that had forsaken him. The world that was against him.

Keith would  _make it through_.

...

Keith forced confidence and walked down to the coffee shop. The goal was to not have a panic attack and accept that omegas sitting at some alpha's feet was just the world. Not for long, if he had a say in it. But he would see the world and not have a panic attack. Keith wouldn't have any more panic attacks when sitting through some current events lecture. No more panic attacks during anything.

Still, he had to take a deep breath to walk into the cafe.

It wasn't as bad as he had thought. Yeah, there were alphas and omegas, but most people were just college students with textbooks or friends sharing a cup of coffee. Keith could do that. This would be okay.

He didn't really want to support a business that accepted alphas and omegas in like this, but that was just the cruel reality. So he bought a bitter coffee and sat by himself in a corner table. He stared out the window at the people that passed by. The building was facing the street, the rest of campus out of sight. Keith was watching the real world, which wasn't great. The sky was cloudy, and it seemed like everything was washed in grey. Grey people in grey clothing walking down a grey street with grey buildings under a grey sky. No colors. No brightness. No reason to go out there. Better to stay in this place, which at least had a little bit of color and light. Not bright at all, though. Nothing to make it worth living in. Just like the grey outside.

"Whoa, Keith!"

Keith looked up to see Hunk walk in, a bright smile on his face. Keith shrunk back a bit. He didn't really want to talk to anyone. Just let him drink his bitter coffee in peace?

"What's up," he forced himself to say, but it came out as flat, not a question at all.

This didn't seem to dampen Hunk's energy. "I didn't expect to see you here. Why didn't you come back to find us?"

"I finished and didn't know where you guys went," he lied. "I wanted a coffee."

"Oh, I bet you're kind of tired," Hunk said, slipping into the seat across from him. He already had a tea in hand, and he was still smiling. Why was he still goddamn smiling? Why did these people smile so much? Keith had never met anyone that smiled as much as Hunk and Lance did. "Lance was wondering where you went- well, we all did, but Lance especially. I think he likes you."

Keith didn't know if he meant romantically or platonically, but he didn't much care for either. His inner omega, which needed to  _die_ , perked up a bit at taking it in a romatic way, but Keith pushed it down. What did it matter if Lance liked him? They were just roommates. Nothing more. Could never be anything more. No matter if Keith wanted it or not.

Which Keith _did_ \- did not!

"Oh," Keith said. He wanted to get out. Go back...

Go back where? The dorm was shared with Lance, and he didn't have a home.

"I guess I'll leave you alone," Hunk said, catching Keith's awkwardness. "See you tomorrow!"

"Yeah, sure," Keith muttered. He watched the big guy walk away, then stood up abruptly, threw the last sips of his coffee in the trash, and walked out onto those grey streets.

Maybe they were better than that little bit of color.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wowww that wasn't a lot of writing but I guess it's okay?
> 
> I have no idea where this is going
> 
> but it's fun to write absolutely nothinnnng
> 
> if you want not trash, read literally either one of my other stories
> 
> in which I actually try
> 
> (shameless self-promotion)


	6. Chapter 6

Keith walked the streets for a while. It was... nice to just relax. Even though he knew that he couldn't afford to relax if he wanted to keep up the act, nobody would expect anything from a passing stranger. If he was just calm and walked by without an issue, nobody would think anything of it.

Except... people did expect things from omegas. Why? Why did people decide to target omegas? Why were they worth less than everyone else?

Keith probably wouldn't ever know, and it  _bothered_ him, but there was nothing he could do about it. First, he would get through school- be the first omega to ever get a proper education!-, then he would do what little he could to make a difference in society. It probably wouldn't change much, if he was being realistic- he could never reveal that he was an omega, and other omegas wouldn't know a thing if they thought he was an alpha.

Plus, there was the whole "alpha" thing. Why had he lied? Why had he said he was an alpha? Now they would expect him to buy some omega too, and with Keith's birthday coming up, he couldn't cover that. But Keith couldn't do that, for a variety of reasons, mostly that it was horrible to buy a person, but also because two omegas didn't fit together.

Keith didn't want romance, anyway. Not that the relationship between an alpha and an omega ever held any real emotion or love- it was all biology.

Fucking biology.

...

When it started to get dark, Keith retreated back to campus and locked himself up in the dorm. Lance wasn't back yet. Which-  _good!_ He was probably out partying or something stupid like that. Keith was  _better_ than that.

He also didn't have any friends, but if Keith did have friends, he wouldn't go out partying with them.

Keith looked around the room. Lance's side  _was_ a lot more decorated than Keith's. Was that normal? Was he expected to have more belongings? Keith had gotten all of what money he had from cleaning back rooms in bars, and even then, he spent most of it on the scent blockers and heat suppressors, along with that jacket he had bought the day before. He had almost forgotten about it. It was shoved in a corner, so Keith tugged it on. Still as warm as before.

He kicked his boots off and crashed in the bed. Keith was lucky that Voltron University supplied all of the bedding. That would've been not only frustrating but an obvious sign of how poor he was.

Keith managed to doze off after a while. It was warm, especially with the red jacket, and everything was mostly quiet, with only the soft buzz of conversation getting through the walls and door. It was... nice.

...

" _Hunk, I swear if you bring that up again!-"_

Keith jolted awake, eyes wide as the door opened, flooding the room with light. Lance was standing in the doorway, yelling at someone- Hunk- over his shoulder.

 _It's just Lance_.

He tried to force himself to relax, slow his breathing and his pounding heart, but it didn't go away yet. It probably wouldn't, for a while. Whenever he got scared like that, the effects didn't go away for ages. It was pretty terrible.

"I- oh! Hey, Keith. Sorry, were you sleeping?"

_Uh, yeah, and you just totally woke me up._

"Nah. I was, um... studying."

"Oh, cool, I guess. I forgot to ask, what are you in school for?"

_Stopping the omega injustice- NO, Keith, he doesn't mean it like that, he means what you're studying._

"Astrophysics. Like, space." Did Lance know that already? Probably. He didn't have to teach himself all of the math that Keith did. He had real, salary-earning  _teachers_. And soon, so would Keith. That was so strange. "And, um, astronomy. Piloting."

"Really? Cool. Think we've got any classes together? Probably, because that's what I'm taking." Smiling, Lance closed the door and flopped down on his bed. "Ready for classes to start tomorrow?"

"Not really," Keith said honestly. He had a prickling feeling of eyes on him. It was the strangest thing, but he guessed that it was the same sensation he would feel tomorrow when he had to meet the world. And the world wasn't kind.

"Yeah..." Lance fell silent, and Keith wondered if he'd said something wrong. This was probably the most social interaction he'd ever had in a single day. He'd met all sorts of new people so far, Lance and his friends.

Lance, Pidge, Shiro, Hunk, Allura.

How would Keith fit in? Because he already had a feeling that after meeting him, they wouldn't give up on him. Once alphas got their teeth into something it was impossible to tear them away.

He sighed and rolled over, burying himself under the blanket.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoops i forgot to add notes last chapter
> 
> hopefully i'll be bringing this story back! my inspiration has returned, and i actually know where i'm going with this!
> 
> (i haven't started a fanfic without knowing how it ends in a while, so this is kind of a relief since i never really finished that other one)
> 
> anyway, enjoy.

The first day of classes... wasn't all that exciting.

Keith had woken up with an air of... fantasy, almost. It was dangerous and important, and even though he had been taught his whole life to stay away from danger, it was still... amazing to feel that thrill when he walked down the hallway, Lance chattering at his side.

Somehow, Lance had convinced Keith to go talk to his friends before their classes began. As it turned out, they  _did_ have the same exact schedule- what were the odds of that? Okay, pretty high if Keith thought about it hard enough, considering the classes that he was taking weren't exactly full.

Takashi and Allura were already at the coffee shop, smiling at each other peacefully and talking. Their relationship was something Keith could support. It was  _healthy_ \- both alphas, so neither of them felt superior to the other. No  _biology_ involved. Actually, it went against biology. Basically, Keith liked Takashi and Allura.

"Hey, Lance. And Keith?" Takashi called as Keith and Lance entered the building.

"Are you two excited for your first day of university?" Allura asked, a brilliant smile on her face.

"Yeah!" Lance said. "Except... kinda wish I didn't let Hunk drag me out to that science fair last night. We were gone for _way_ too long."

_Science fair?_ So Hunk liked science... Well, Lance  _had_ said yesterday that all of his friends were interested in space, and there was a lot of science involved in space. Still, Keith hadn't thought Hunk to be the type to be a science-lover. He had seemed more... soft, maybe? Softer than a normal alpha. Maybe it was just the alphas that Keith had met, but Hunk had seemed softer. Keith had expected him to be more involved in the "wow, this is amazing!" part of space exploration.

The bell above the door chimed as Pidge walked in. Keith... liked Pidge, sort of. She was nice, from what he had seen, and she wasn't an alpha, so... it was okay to talk to her. Safe. Apart from that weird look in her eyes, like she was trying to solve a puzzle. Maybe that had just been yesterday? Keith hoped that was true, because he didn't want Pidge to try and figure out his secrets.

Not that he really had that many secrets. All of them were connected to his one major secret. And that secret was  _pretty important_.

"Hey," Pidge mumbled, readjusting her glasses tiredly as she sat down after getting her coffee. "How's everyone's day?"

"Pidge, did you sleep last night?" Shiro asked kindly. "You really shouldn't be pulling all-nighters in university."

"Unless you have to," Allura interjected.

"Don't lie, Shiro," Pidge said, her voice becoming clearer as she took a sip of her drink. "Matt told me you pulled a lot of all-nighters back in high school."

Lance laughed. "I can see a badass high school Shiro. Did you go to a lot of parties?"

"Language," Shiro warned. "And no, Lance, of course I didn't. I focused on my studies, like I was  _supposed to_."

Allura laughed and reached over the table to grab Shiro's face. "It's alright, you're almost free."

"Free from what?"

Everyone looked up as Hunk sat down between Pidge and Lance. His easygoing smile brightened the mood even further, if that was possible.

"Hunk!" Pidge cried. "I can't believe you went to that science fair without me! And you brought  _Lance!_ "

"You said you were busy," Hunk said innocently. "And Lance wouldn't stop bothering me about being bored."

"Hey- no, you dragged me there!" Lance objected. "I  _begged_ you to take Pidge instead!"

"It's okay, Lance. Sometimes people become confused and mix up events in their head," Allura said with a brilliant fake smile.

"What? No, I swear!" Lance exclaimed, but everyone just laughed. "Come on- Keith, tell them that I didn't want to go!"

"I didn't see you at all after I left," Keith pointed out quietly. "You seemed pretty happy when you got back."

"Aw,  _Keith!_ "

Maybe it was okay to have friends. In the back of his mind, Keith loved the attention, wanted more- but that part of himself had been locked away long before he ever learned he was an omega.

...

After everyone had finished their drinks- except for Keith, he hadn't gotten anything, he needed to start saving up for heat suppressors again- they all began to walk back towards the middle of the campus.

"Are you guys  _all_ headed towards the astronomy building?" Shiro asked with a sigh. "Coran's going to explode."

"Coran?" Keith asked, hesitant to ask any questions that maybe he should've already known the answer to. He didn't want them wondering what was wrong with him, and why he didn't know normal stuff.

"Oh, the astronomy professor," Pidge supplied helpfully. "I would've thought you met him already."

"Uh... no, I don't think so?" Keith answered, more of a question than a statement.

"Well, you definitely won't forget about him now," Allura said, rolling her eyes.

Keith didn't really like the sound of that- why? What was different about... Coran? Professor Coran? Was he crazy? Or really strange? Or just... eccentric?

...

As it turned out, that last thought ended up being the truth. After Shiro and Allura had left, the four remaining people walked into the astronomy building. Keith had to admit, it was actually nice inside. Somehow, the halls were washed in dark blue light rather than ordinary lighting. Keith didn't really mind. The effect was... soothing.

When everyone had arrived in the center room, which was apparently where they were supposed to meet, the man from the front desk walked onto a platform at one end of the room.

"Welcome, everyone! I'm Professor Coran and, as you know, this is astronomy class. Well, at least I certainly hope you know!"

That drew out a bit of nervous laughter. Apparently, everyone was nervous. No one else had the same reasons to be nervous as Keith, obviously, but it made him feel better that at least his emotions weren't that far out of place.

Also, the guy from the front desk was a professor? Why? Was he just stuck with the job for that day, since classes hadn't begun? Keith wondered if the front desk was his other job, and that was why everyone else knew him. Or was it just because Shiro and Allura had probably taken this class too?

"Well, freshmen, I'm here to teach you about space!" Coran grinned brightly and pressed a button on the wall. The room went dark and a map of the stars appeared on the ceiling. The ceiling seemed to be a dome that Keith had somehow missed earlier. Had he been that distracted by these... people that could almost be friends? That wasn't good.

But these nervous thoughts were pushed away with awestruck excitement. It was almost magical, to see space above him. It was...

It was amazing.

...

The rest of the day wasn't that remarkable. Keith listened to a safety speech during the piloting class. During his off period, they were serving free lunch- and hopefully, that would continue to happen throughout the rest of his time at university-, and astrophysics was just a basic introduction to the course.

Keith crashed in bed as soon as he returned to his dorm. The day had been long and packed full of interesting ideas. University was even better than he had imagined- real school! No more roaming the streets, wishing that omegas had equal rights. No, that time was over. Keith was part of society now, and he would graduate.

The first omega to graduate university.

It seemed closer now than it ever had before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so if you read the notes at the top, yeah, i'll try to update a bit more frequently? updates could be anywhere from once a day to once a month(which hopefully doesn't happen again but whatever, it's me, love being i n con s i ste n t
> 
> (oh god it's bothering me gotta upload this fast before i regret it)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> keith is really oblivious.  
> team bonding.  
> klance bonding.

University was strange.

University was also the future, so Keith didn't really think too hard on the aspects that he hated.

Like friends. Keith kind of hated friends.

Lance had dragged him out of their dorm plenty of times when Keith could have been studying to go see his friends. It wasn't that he hated Shiro, Pidge, Allura, and Hunk. They were all fairly nice. Even though sometimes Hunk got a little too close, Pidge still looked at him with that analytical look, Shiro asked him questions that could blow his cover if he wasn't careful, and Allura seemed like she was constantly judging him, he actually didn't mind spending time with all of them.

The one person Keith hadn't been able to figure out was Lance. What did he  _want_ from Keith? Keith's first guess was sex, but why? Lance was an alpha, and he thought Keith was one too. Although, he had acted weird when he first met Keith, calling him pretty and whatnot, but it had kind of faded off into a casual friendship. At least, that's what it felt like.

So Keith had crossed that possibility off of his list. What else could it have been? Next, he thought about academics. Lance complained whenever he got a bad grade in class, and it wasn't like Keith was  _perfect_ \- sure, after the first few weeks, he had gotten the hang of proper education, so he rarely scored badly- but Lance acted like it sometimes. "Rivals"? Keith didn't understand the purpose of it.

Did Lance just want to be... Keith's friend? Who would want to be friends with Keith? He was trash on the side of the road, nobody of any importance. Usually, his personality chased people away who weren't affected by his scowl.

Keith didn't understand any of it. That didn't stop Lance's small touches and weird looks.

...

One day, Lance's friends all invited Keith to a night out and a sleepover. He had questioned the purpose of it- "Why should we have a sleepover? We all live in the same place."- but the others were having none of it. Pidge informed him that she actually lived on the other side of town, and just crashed in her dorm when she needed to. Keith wondered why, because didn't dorms cost money? But then he was violently reminded that these people were not his friends, they all went to a fancy boarding school together somewhere sheltered and really all lived in mansions.

The night had been going well so far, he supposed. Lance dragged everyone to his favorite Cuban restaurant.

"But why, Lance?" Hunk complained again as they all sat down. "We  _always_ go here!"

"Because it's a taste of  _home_ , Hunky! Don't you ever wish for the sweet taste of your family's cooking?"

"First,  _I_ always cook," Hunk said, rolling his eyes. "My parents suck at cooking, and the last cook we had got into an argument with me, so she was fired. And two, no? They say that in cooking magazines, but it's a lie! A  _lie_ , Lance!"

Lance made an outraged noise and sipped aggressively at his straw.

"You're from Cuba?" Keith asked, unsure if he had understood that conversation correctly or not.

"Yeah!" Lance exclaimed. "I know, I have a  _great_ American accent."

Keith rolled his eyes, but inside, he was surprised. Lance hadn't struck him to be the type to long for the place he was born. Keith sure wasn't, at least. Why would people ever want to go back? Shouldn't you always be moving forward in life?

Whatever. That was Lance's deal, not his. But it was good information to file away in case of emergency.

"So after this, we're going back to my place, and we're  _going to play_ Killbot Phantasm," Pidge informed everyone.

"Pidge, that's the game you always win," Shiro said, although from the smile on his face it was clear he was amused.

"That's the point!" Pidge exclaimed.

"Well, you've never played with Keith," Allura pointed out. "Maybe he's better."

Keith's eyes flickered down for a second uneasily before meeting Pidge's amber gaze. "I, uh, I doubt it. I've never played a videogame before."

"What?" Pidge gasped with mock hurt. "Never? Lance, Hunk! Pay attention!"

Hunk and Lance, who had ended up talking about something that had to do with zombies while Keith turned his attention to the others, looked up. Their faces were almost filled with fear. Pidge really seemed to affect the two alpha boys.

"Keith's never played any games before!" Pidge exclaimed, grinning as she exposed Keith.

Keith just groaned and slumped further into his seat.

"How?" Hunk exclaimed.

"It's a crime," Lance decided. "We're playing videogames. All night. Then you can never say that again, right Keith?" He shot a cheeky smile to Keith.

Why was Keith's face hot? That was strange.

As they ate dinner and continued talking, Keith tried to push Lance's face out of his mind. Lance wasn't even next to him! He was on the other side of the table, squeezed between Pidge and Hunk, while Keith was on the end next to Shiro and Allura.

Of course, he knew in the back of his mind why-

It was ridiculous, he decided. These emotions Keith had towards Lance were unimportant. As long as they didn't cause an issue, there was no reason to think about them.

Because thinking about it definitely made it worse.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> more team bonding.  
> some secrets.  
> maybe these people aren't as bad as keith thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i swear we're on the way to the real plot
> 
> also wow i used the "trash on the side of the road" line in another fanfiction(is that foreshadowing? spoilers? i mean not really but like yes that line is used in another one of my works?)
> 
> okay that's it just read  
> |  
> |  
> |  
> !

Dinner was actually... nice. It tasted like money, but at least it was nice money. Warm and soft.

Damn, that was weird to think.

Keith tried to pretend he didn't see Lance's pitiful glance when the alpha payed the bill- it had been his restaurant choice, he claimed, so he would pay. Keith had a feeling that Lance knew he wasn't all that rich.

They all piled into Shiro's van, while the man drove to Pidge's house. Or... was it her family's house? He doubted it would be a "house", more of a mansion. But Keith just sunk back into his seat and stared out the window as he listened to the others' conversation. It didn't make much sense to him, but that was probably because of his lack of knowledge of pop culture. He didn't have much time for that while living on the streets.

"Shiro, you're such a  _dad_ ," Pidge complained.

"Yeah, you've already got the car!" Hunk exclaimed.

"Only dads going through a crisis have a minivan," Allura said, playfully tapping Shiro's arm. The man only snorted and focused on the road.

"You're not even paying attention to us!" Lance cried.

Keith supposed Lance's voice could be annoying at times. It was even higher pitched than Keith's own voice- which, okay, maybe Keith was intentionally making his voice lower, but that didn't take away from the fact that Lance's voice was higher than his. Lance was loud and obnoxious sometimes, and he could be so dramatic and in-your-face. But... it didn't really bother Keith. Maybe in a different situation it would, if Keith didn't know Lance, but... in this situation, it didn't. Lance's voice could be... nice.

After what felt like a long time, they finally pulled up to a large building that Keith _definitely_  didn't consider a house. It was so... grand and elegant. Too  _nice_ for someone like Keith.

This place gave him an uneasy feeling. It reminded him of his only real home, back when...

_No._ Keith couldn't think about that around these people anymore. It was dangerous. They could guess his thoughts or... something.

"This is your house?" he asked, trying to sound as casual as possible, and not like he was in shock.

"Yeah, it's kind of a mess right now, so..." Pidge shrugged and grinned as she opened the door.

Everyone piled out of Shiro's car and followed the girl inside. Keith couldn't imagine how a place like this could be a mess.

He was wrong.

A smiling woman- smiling too brightly to be real- opened the door when Pidge walked up the steps. Keith looked past the others to see what the inside looked like.

It  _was_ a mess. Even the opening... foyer...? ...was filled with random pictures, devices, and metal scraps. He looked around as they stepped in, confused but feeling slightly more at ease. If it had been clean, it would have felt too much like the past. Keith definitely didn't need to bring up the past.

"Time for some Killbot Phantasm!" Pidge yelled, throwing a fist up in the air and running down the hall. The others charged after her.

Keith didn't run after them. He followed, sure, but at a much slower pace. He studied everything Pidge had hanging on the walls- scientific posters and photographs of different people. Some of them were recognizable as Keith's almost-friends, but others were different. A nice-looking man and a tired woman. A boy that looked a lot like Pidge herself, but taller and without the glasses.

"Keith, come on!" Lance shouted, waving at him from the other end of the hall.

Keith nodded and walked after Lance.

...

He was terrible at videogames.

Pidge beat everyone, including Keith- but who was surprised, really?- so after a while, they settled down onto the couch and began playing "party games". Keith was a bit confused at first, but the rules became fairly obvious after a while.

Truth or dare.

This was dangerous. He had to lie, but not too much, or they'd catch on. But he couldn't back out of the game- they'd ask "why not?" and figure out Keith's secret even sooner.

"Okay, Lance, truth or dare?" Allura asked.

"Dare!" Lance grinned. "Bring it on."

"Uh... put makeup on," Allura decided. "Pidge, do you have any makeup around?"

"Yeah, my aunt gave it to me," Pidge muttered, standing up and leaving the room, presumably to retrieve the makeup.

"Allura, this dare is terrible!" Lance exclaimed. "I can do makeup like a  _pro_."

"You could do someone else's makeup," Hunk offered.

"You're right, I could do Keith's!" Lance said. "I haven't done his makeup before."

Allura only shrugged. "Sure, do it."

It only really hit Keith that Lance was putting makeup on his face when Pidge returned with a bag and Lance went over to Keith's spot on the floor.

"Sit still," Lance told him before practically attacking him.

...

When Lance finally finished, he held up a small mirror. Keith was surprised to see that he actually looked  _good._ He had had no idea that Lance could do makeup. Keith had never really messed around with it before- it had never appealed to him. What was the point of making his face stand out more? But... this was nice. Also nice was Lance flopping down on the floor next to him.

"Keith, truth or dare?"

This was what he had been waiting for. He couldn't mess this up. If he messed this up and they all found out because of some stupid game... and why didn't he pick dare? Because dare could end up with even worse results. Lance's was tame, but you never knew-

"Truth."

"Why do you want to be a spaceship pilot?"

This was easy.

"Well, I always looked up at the stars when I was little, even if I couldn't see them all that well from the city. Space has always interested me- there could be other life out there, and there's so much we don't know. So... I wanted to be out there someday."

Everyone was nodding in agreement. Keith remembered that they all wanted to go to space too. Could they really understand what he meant? Was it possible that not all alphas were terrible?

...

The game continued for a while, but eventually they ended up watching a movie. Keith wasn't quite sure what movie they were watching- there were some weird mice, maybe a castle? And they might be in space? He wasn't quite sure.

He was more focused on how  _close_ Lance was to him. Keith was sitting on the floor still, although his back was now against the couch, and Lance was sitting on the couch behind him, with long, long legs were stretched out next to Keith. That wasn't fair. How was he supposed to keep Lance out of his mind if the guy kept being so... so...

So Lance?

...

It was late. Really late. Hunk was whispering something to Lance, while Pidge had fallen asleep. Shiro and Allura had vanished off somewhere, and Keith... Keith was just sort of there. One of Pidge's blankets was pulled over him, but he was wide awake. He strained to hear Lance and Hunk's conversation, just for the entertainment, but they were too quiet.

After a while, Lance and Hunk quit whispering and turned to Keith.

"Keith, what's your opinion on omegas?" Hunk asked.

Keith barely managed not to flinch. Had they figured him out? Had he seriously failed already? They weren't even halfway through the semester, how... how...?

But he needed to respond. Okay. This was something he refused to lie about. He would not fall to the levels of other idiotic alphas and betas who thought omegas were fine the way they were. He couldn't give away how passionate he was, or they'd figure out he wasn't as normal as they'd thought.

"Uh... they could... be treated better?" Keith tried, studying their faces for a reaction.

Hunk nodded, then glanced at Lance, who nodded also. What was going on? Was it even appropriate for people to say their opinions on the condition of omegas? Was it legal? Were these two undercover police or... or something?

"I have something to show you," Hunk said, standing. Lance followed suit, so Keith scrambled to his feet. He followed them down long, twisting hallways, down to a door.

"Don't freak her out," Lance warned. "She's..."

_She?_ Were they keeping a  _person_ in there? How did this relate to omegas? Pidge was a beta, so this couldn't be her omega... No...

So they opened the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was actually going for ender's game for the movie at first  
> but then i was like  
> "oh wait"  
> voltron fits too


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> maybe keith's safer than he thought.

Inside of the room was a single yellow light. The room was mostly dark, but a girl was there. She looked up as they entered, and Keith's nose twitched as he smelled  _omega_.

She looked too young to have been sold- plus, who would have bought her? They were all underage.

Was she... a  _runaway?_

Like Keith?

"Keith, this is Shay. Shay, this is Keith," Hunk introduced. When he looked at the girl it was like he had just seen the light of his life- a real smile growing on his face. It was almost identical to the expression on the girl's face.

Hunk was an alpha. This girl, Shay, was an omega. Yet they looked at each other... the way Shiro and Allura looked at each other.  _Real_ love. Was it... possible?

Keith was so confused.

"It's nice to meet you," Shay said in a soft voice. "I've heard about you before, maybe."

"Oh, uh, nice to meet you too," Keith said awkwardly, trying not to look at her or Hunk.

"Don't even think about it, her and Hunk are so in love," Lance whispered to him. Keith tried not to look revolted at the idea.

"So... Shay here is a runaway," Hunk explained. "I found her one day in an alley, so we brought her back here, because Pidge is the only one who lives alone. She..." He trailed off, looking away.

"I ran away from the omega camp in the country," Shay offered. "I'm seventeen, so they were transporting us to an auction house for when we were actually old enough to be sold. I got away when they were distracted."

There were... omega camps? That was where they took omegas when they were torn away from their families? This was new information. It could be important.

Shay was studying his expression carefully, and she frowned a little, then looked up at Hunk and Lance. "Could we maybe have a second alone?"

"Be careful," Hunk said before pulling Lance out the door and closing it on them. Keith wasn't quite sure who that statement was directed towards.

"You know of omegas," Shay said, turning to Keith. "More than a normal... alpha, did you decide?"

Keith flinched. She knew. How could she  _know?_ Was he really that obvious? Did all of them know, and just decide to humor him, because his act couldn't last for that long-

"Relax," Shay told him in an almost stern voice. "Worrying will do you no good. The rest believe you, I'm sure of it."

"How do you know?" he finally asked anxiously.

"The way you looked at Lance, along with your features," Shay explained. "Plus, you release a certain set of chemicals that identifies you as omega, even if alphas and betas can't sense them. An omega always knows their own."

That was troublesome. Did all omegas know? He'd tried to stay away from other omegas as best he could nearly his entire life... they could have ratted him out at any moment.

"It's a survival mechanism, so that danger can't identify an omega, but others of their kind can. The government has no idea, otherwise they'd probably have omegas hunting other omegas. Although if that happened, we probably wouldn't have to hide. They'd rather stay clueless than give omegas purpose." Shay sighed. "How did you escape?"

"I escaped when I was four."

"You... you're the omega that escaped from Zarkon's estate as a  _child_ _?"_ Shay asked incredulously, her eyes wide with shock. "You're a legend! The only known omega to have escaped from the system and gone completely off the grid. You... you were my hero! All of us at the camp knew about you!"

Keith hiked his shoulders up and crossed his arms, looking away at the mention of  _him_. It was kind of shocking to learn that so many had heard of him. Was he really that important? All he had done was  _run._

"Thank you," Shay said softly, her surprised expression melting into a smile. "Really."

"Thanks for talking to me," Keith forced out before turning and opening the door. Lance and Hunk stood on the other side, both frowning at him anxiously.

"What were you talking about?" Lance asked, his voice curious, but also tinged with something a bit darker. Hunk darted into the room and gave Shay a hug or something- Keith wasn't paying attention to that. He was focused on Lance.

"It was nothing important," Keith lied, looking down at the ground.

"Okay..." Lance frowned at him some more before slinging an arm over Keith's shoulder and walking back the way they came, to where Pidge was still asleep. Shiro and Allura had returned and were curled up on the couch together.

It was crazy how everything could change, but at the same time, everything was exactly the same.

Keith sat down in the same spot as before, drawing his knees up to his chest. Lance sat beside him, as the couch was now occupied. Hunk laid down on the floor, rolling himself into a blanket burrito.

"Night, I guess," Lance whispered.

Keith didn't feel tired at all, but he must have passed out at some point, because everything was dark.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> will keith ever learn to quit victim blaming?  
> will the others ever find out he's an omega?  
> (probably not for a while lmao)

When Keith woke up, he felt... warm. Comforted, almost, in a way that he hadn't felt in a long, long time. He didn't move, wanting to drift back into the soft feeling of sleep. The memories of last night were far from his thoughts.

Just when Keith thought sleep would claim him, he heard... giggles? He was almost tempted to crack an eye open, see what was so funny, but... this was better. Blissful ignorance. He didn't want his life's problems invading his sleep. Keith  _liked_ how distant the world felt right then.

The warmth enveloping him shifted slightly, enough that distant alarm bells were ringing in his head, but Keith didn't want to think about that. He wanted to live in the moment, for once in his life,  _how hard was that?_ Seriously.

There was more blurry noise _,_ and Keith curled tighter in on himself. None of what was going on in the background made any sense, and he was  _okay_ with that. Because sometimes he didn't want to be aware of everything. He wanted to be normal for once, a normal omega-

And that was the thought that made him bolt up and away from the comforting sensation. The noise around him finally turned into comprehensible words.

"Didn't think that was even  _possible_."

"I had no idea Keith could even look so soft!"

"Is he okay?"

Keith cautiously opened bleary eyes, and he wiped any last traces of sleep away. After a second, he could see that it was only the others. Pidge, Hunk, Shiro, Allura, Lance.

_Lance?_

He glanced back to where he had escaped from, which was... Lance. Staring at him. Awkwardly, but with an emotion Keith couldn't understand. Had he...? Were Keith and Lance...?

"Morning," he mumbled, glancing around carefully. "What... what's going on?" Better to play the tired victim than someone who actually knew what the fuck was going on. For once, Keith didn't have to pretend. That was nice.

"You were all curled up with Lance!" Pidge exclaimed, laughing slightly. Her eyes were bright and mischevious. "I got some pictures, if you want to see them." She waved her phone in his face.

Keith snatched the phone from her hand and stared at the photo displayed on the screen. It was blurry and dark, with just Keith's head rested on Lance's shoulder. He swiped the screen to see the next one, which was slightly lighter- maybe it had been taken later on?- where Keith had fallen into Lance's lap. The next one was Keith curled into Lance's chest. There were a few more, with the quality improving in each photograph, until the picture was clear and bright, with Keith in Lance's arms, Lance's eyes finally opened and his cheeks red.

"I didn't know that was real, outside of romance books," Allura said, giggling. "I suppose this proves all of those terrible authors correct!"

Well, Keith had a feeling it had to do with that damn  _inner omega-_ because what  _wasn't_ the fault of his secondary gender?- deciding that Lance was the perfect alpha. Yes, okay, maybe Keith was a little touch-starved, but... could he seriously not be attacked and betrayed by his body every five minutes?

"It's nothing," Lance finally said, meeting his gaze uncertainly at first before becoming bold. "I have a natural charm! Just draws in everyone!"

"Yeah," Keith agreed quietly, although that little voice inside of him screamed to  _go get the man_ _!_ Naturally, that voice was idiotic and stupid and had absolutely no sense of self-preservation.

"Alright, breakfast!" Hunk announced, jumping up from his spot on the floor. "Pancakes or waffles?"

"Waffles!" Pidge shouted before anyone else could reply. "My house, my rules!"

"No complaints here," Shiro said with a shrug. "Allura? Keith? Lance?"

"Breakfast sounds wonderful already," Allura agreed.

"Anything my man Hunk makes is great!" Lance declared, grinning.

"Sure," Keith said, making a conscious effort to not be so  _soft_ and  _quiet_ when he spoke. It really didn't help with the "alpha" persona.

Which he didn't have, but, semantics.

While Hunk ran off to the kitchen to make breakfast, Keith stood up and escaped from the living room to try and find the bathroom. How would he even find that in a giant mansion? He had _no fucking clue_ , but if he tried opening every door, surely he'd find it eventually? That would work, right?

Keith eventually found it. He didn't want to think about how long it took.

He walked back towards the living room, trying not to feel like a poor idiot, when he heard his name said in whatever conversation was going on, and he froze.

"...Keith's just shy, Lance. I'm sure it's not because of you," Shiro had been saying kindly.

"I won't lie, the guy's got secrets," Pidge said. "But I think he does genuinely care about us. Just a little bit."

"I wonder what he could possibly be hiding...?" Allura mused.

Keith shivered.

"But... we're both alphas, what if he's not into that?" Lance asked nervously. "I mean, he acted kinda shocked when he realized you guys were together, so he might think that it's..." he trailed off, before quietly adding, "weird."

"You'll never know if you don't try," Pidge said with a sigh. "Jesus, you people. Romance can't possibly be that hard."

"But what if he starts avoiding us? I don't want to ruin our friendship with him, y'know?"

"Just try, Lance," Shiro said kindly.

Keith stood outside the door awkwardly for a few moments, waiting for the conversation to fade to other subjects. Did... did Lance... like him? No, that wasn't possible, he must have been misunderstanding the conversation. A part of him preened at the idea that Lance might like him, but the rest of him reminded Keith that,  _no,_ he did not have time for handsome alphas, he needed to get through school and-

Wait. Fuck. Shay. What was he supposed to do? Everything was different- he hadn't really had time to think over what had happened last night. Was everything different? Keith had no fucking idea what he should do about that.

And... god, he  _wasn't_ the only omega strong enough not to run away? It shouldn't have been as shocking as it was. Keith hadn't thought about what it would be like to have  _allies_ in... years. Was it possible?

Shay...

If they accepted Shay into Pidge's house, would they be okay with Keith not being so much of an alpha after all? Would they be... okay with Keith being an omega?

These were disturbing thoughts that Keith forced himself to push away as he heard Hunk's shout of "Breakfast!"

He would figure this out later.


	12. Chapter 12

Somehow, Keith got through breakfast without spilling all his greatest secrets.

There were just  _so many_ emotions running through his mind. Keith had no idea how to feel. What did all of this mean for  _him?_ They liked Shay,  _Hunk_ liked Shay, but what if they only accepted her because she and Hunk liked each other? If he just gave it all up, would they toss him to whatever camp Shay had come from? Would he have to let them blackmail him into something-

No. Keith wasn't doing  _any of that._ Why should he care that these people were omega sympathizers? That didn't mean that they didn't have distorted perceptions of the reality of omegas, perceptions that would keep him from ever being  _normal._ It was easier to just let them think whatever they wanted of him and forget any ideas of dropping his charade. For all he knew, this could all be fake, a test to see if he was an omega.

Omegas trusted easily, people had always claimed. Because of that, it was difficult for someone to hurt an omega in a way that they wouldn't think was okay. Omegas were just weak and dependant, and it was easier to let society take control of them instead of treating them like human beings.

Nearly everything people thought they knew about omegas was just a stereotype- Keith had learned that from a young age. He didn't trust easily. He refused to let people control him. Some might call him a broken omega, but in Keith's opinion, you were broken if you just said  _yes._ If you never became your own person.

Keith refused to ever let that become his reality. In doing so, he refused to  _ever_ let them find out the truth about him.

...

After breakfast, Keith turned down the offer of a ride back to campus. He was  _not_ spending any more time with these people than he needed to. It was too late to break off relations now- they had him in their trap. If he started avoided them, they would get suspicious. Plus, Keith  _lived_ with Lance for god's sake! It was better to let them think whatever they did of him now rather than give them a reason to dislike him.

The sun was shining straight into Keith's eyes, and it bothered him. Why was that? Why did the sun have to chase his eyesight until it gave up on him?

Why did these people refuse to leave Keith alone?

...

For the next few months, everything was calm again. His bond with the others slowly grew. Keith didn't let himself get comfortable- he still kept a wall up between himself and them. It was dangerous, but he was pushing through. Keith was at the top of his classes, which garnered much jealousy from Lance, but to Keith, all that meant was that he was doing well. If he could keep this up, university would be easy.

But of course, everything had to go wrong.

What was the point of Keith's life if it didn't?

It was a mandatory assembly in the lecture hall. All students were required to attend at some point during the day. The only person Keith could find was Lance, so they decided to go together in place of one of their classes. Lance had no idea where the others were, so they clung onto each other.

They filed into the lecture hall, where a powerpoint was already on. The title made Keith's stomach drop.

_A Reminder on the Importance of Secondary Genders in Society._

There was absolutely no way in hell this would go smoothly. Keith already wanted to throw up just from looking at it. He refused to look at Lance- sure, Lance might mistake his panic for thinking that someone had discovered Shay, but Keith wasn't going to take the risk of Lance thinking something else was going on. So he kept his eyes on a firm spot above the display. That didn't help with hearing the speaker.

"It has been brought to the government's attention that many have grown relaxed on policies regarding secondary genders, specifically omegas. It has been deemed necessary to show this presentation in every school across the country."

Were other countries like this? Keith had a feeling they were. Otherwise, cruel treatment of omegas would have ended already. And omegas were _definitely not_ treated kindly here.

Keith took a deep breath, trying to relax. He closed his eyes and wished he were blind or deaf. Maybe both. Because he would have done anything in the world to not have to experience this.

"First off," the speaker droned on, "we will go over basic laws. Once a child is discovered to be an omega, by natural means or through medical scans, they will be taken away to a special facility that takes care of omegas until they are eighteen, ready to be auctioned off to willing alphas. No child is an exception to this law, no matter who their parents are or their situation."

Lance reached over the seat and grabbed Keith's hand, squeezing it tightly. Keith risked a glance over to Lance, who didn't look okay. What was his problem? Keith remembered he loved his family- had one of his siblings turned out to be omega? Keith hoped that was what Lance was freaking out about.

"Due to their nature, omegas are unable to be a proper part of society. They are simply unable to function correctly in a world filled with alphas."

That was a goddamn lie. How did these people live with themselves, knowing that they were taking away people's will? Knowing that a third of the population was made up of slaves? Keith didn't understand why they had to do this to so many people. What had omegas ever done? Gone into heat? Gotten themselves raped on the streets? Filed a court case where the alpha claimed it was simply "too difficult to say no" and that they were "asking for it"?

"In the past twenty years, there has been a rise in rebellious omegas who refuse to follow the laws put in place for their protection. No one quite understands why they would leave their safe lives with alphas for an almost certain death on the streets, but it happens more often than it should."

_Yeah, because it's not as great for omegas as alphas seem to think it is._

"The most famous case of this strange insurgence is the story of a little omega boy who escaped the estate of our leader, Zarkon, may he live a hundred years."

Keith stiffened, and he pulled his hand away from Lance's grip. Was he seriously that famous? Were people really that fixated on him? But they had stopped hunting him nearly a decade ago! Why had they given up?

"The omega escaped while everyone was distracted-"

While Zarkon was raping Keith's mom-

"-and vanished into the underworld. The hunt continued for years, but when the omega was never found, he was presumed dead. Even now, we have no idea what happened to him."

He was  _right here. Right here._ Keith almost wanted to shout that- that every single word of this "presentation" was a lie, a fucking lie, and these people were such biased, ignorant  _fools_ to believe it all.

But Keith was good. A good omega. Sat still and took it all.

He hated himself.

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> klance?  
> omega keith?  
> EXPOSED?  
> .  
> .  
> .  
> nah

_Fuck you._

_Fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you._

When the lecture was over, Keith bolted. He pushed through the people who were only just getting up from their seats and ran to his dorm. Now that he was finally free from all those other people, entitled alphas and betas who thought they owned the world, Keith could finally say it out loud.

"Fuck you," Keith said to his room. It didn't reply. It didn't feel nearly as satisfying as saying it to the speaker would have. He tried again. "Fuck you." It didn't feel much better.

Keith sat down on the bed and scowled. At least these weren't meant for sex. He had seen a million ads for beds that would give "the best fucking your omega's ever felt". Well, maybe they weren't that blunt, but... the implication was there. Of course. Because what kind of world would this be if everything was about becoming better people? Too easy, right?

How had Keith never heard about his own story before? He thought back to all of the times he had eavesdropped on people, and they had mentioned omegas. None of them had ever mentioned Zarkon, right? The fact that he, a four-year-old omega boy, had escaped from right under their noses, from  _Zarkon,_ probably wasn't a fact that the guy liked people to talk about.

Keith assumed that the point of his story in the presentation was that without alphas, omegas would die alone on the streets. That wasn't necessarily true- a year or so ago, when he had been trying to figure out how to get into college, he had thought about working at a bar or brothel under the illusion that "his alpha" wanted it.

In the end, he had just decided to write the best paper possible, but Keith had really been thinking about it. And maybe there were others like him! Children who were unregistered and clueless about their secondary gender, children who vanished before they learned it. The difference between Keith and people like that- because they  _had_ to exist, right? If Shay could escape, why couldn't other omegas be out there?- was that they  _knew_ Keith was an omega before he ran.

Keith flopped down on the bed, burying his face in his pillow. Omegas didn't live off of sex, like a lot of people thought. He was still, miraculously, a virgin, because he had been taking heat suppressors for years. Speaking of which, he should probably take his dose now. He reached over to his bag, refusing to lift his head, and reached for the small, wrapped pill bottle. Lance wouldn't be back yet, right? There was still one more class before the day was over, a class that Keith was missing- he probably shouldn't be missing it, but surely he could apologize by making it up in the simulator or something.

He took out the pill bottle and began to unscrew the cap when the door suddenly opened. He dropped the bottle of pills and hoped none of them spilled out on the floor. Damnit! Keith was getting way too comfortable here. He didn't live alone anymore.

"Keith, why did you run away after the lecture?" Lance demanded.

"Oh, uh..." Keith dragged himself up, hoping his stress and anxiety wasn't written all over him. With his luck, though, it probably was. Keith was a charmer to fate like that. "I just felt, uh, tired. Lectures... take a lot out of me, I guess."

Lance gave him a skeptical look. "Uh huh. And what about the lecture was so tiring that you ran away?"

Keith bit his lip. Shit, did Lance know? They had been sleeping in the same room for months. Lance could have done  _anything_ to him or his stuff, and Keith wouldn't know a thing. "I was... worried about Shay...?"

"Real convincing," Lance snorted. "Really, Keith, you can tell me anything, okay? I don't bite."

Keith managed to keep himself from choking with laughter. Yeah. Alphas don't bite at  _all._ They  _definitely_ don't bite omegas. Not in the slightest. "I'm just... tired, okay?"

Lance frowned at him but didn't press any further. "Okay. Sure. What do you want me to tell the professor?"

"Just tell her that I'm in heat," Keith muttered to himself. At Lance's questioning look, he gave a real answer. "I'll make it up, okay?"

Then Lance noticed the bottle Keith was not-so-subtly trying to hide. "Keith, are you doing  _drugs?"_

"No!" Keith exclaimed.  _Depends on your definition._ "This is... um, it's necessary. Medical stuff."

"You're totally doing drugs," Lance objected. "Holy shit, Keith! You had the whole edgy-emo-vibe going, but I didn't think you did drugs! Wow!"

Keith scowled. "I'm not doing drugs." He very carefully wrapped it up and buried it back in his bag. Not that it mattered anymore, since Lance thought he knew the answer, but... 

"Is that what you call not having a scent? Is that what it's like when you're high all the time?" Lance gasped. "It totally makes sense now! You've been high the entire time I've known you!"

 _At least he doesn't know what it is._ Keith sighed. Lance thinking he was permanently high wasn't all that great. "Sure, Lance. Whatever you want to believe." Should those words send a chill through him? Should that really be reminding him of other things he could be saying to Lance? Keith really  _was_ a horny omega. Jesus fucking  _Christ._

And how many times did he have to curse at himself today, anyway? Almost all of them were for the same reason, too. Omega Keith, omega Keith, omega Keith.

Lance just laughed. "I'll cover for you this time, buddy, but next time I'm not giving you a pass. Gotta beat those scores somehow!"

Keith tried to smile at Lance, he really did. It didn't turn out all that great.

When Lance finally left, Keith huddled under the bedsheets and fell asleep. He was exhausted from everything that had happened today. His heart was racing, but he took a deep breath and fell asleep easier than he would've thought.

...

He woke up eleven hours later, at four in the morning. It was still dark out. Lance was passed out on the other side of the room. 

And Keith couldn't remember if he'd taken his heat suppressors or not.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> suppressors? suppressants? repressors?  
> idfk i need to edit this  
> but keith is having a Problem™
> 
> (so this chapter is a lil bit of a long boi, at least compared to the rest)

_Illegal Omega Heat Suppressors:_

_These drugs, while not only highly illegal, are very dangerous. If the omega takes more than one dose, there is a severe risk of fatal illness and even death. This is caused by the fact that heat suppressors are intended to stall the growth of reproductive organs, and any more than what is meant to be taken can mean stopping other parts of the body. Other side effects of taking heat suppressors are the risk of loss of fertility, hallucinations..._

Keith wanted to bang his head on the desk. This was bad. Really bad. He had snuck into the library that morning at opening time- which was later than usual since it was a Saturday, and that _really_ got on Keith's nerves-, getting to a computer and researching quickly before anyone else was around. Keith had always known that there was a risk in taking heat suppressors, but he had never imagined it would be this dangerous if something went wrong.

Why had Keith been an idiot? First for not just taking it when he needed to, and second for getting caught in the first place. He was growing way too relaxed here. This was not a place for  _fun_ and  _relaxation,_ Keith was here to learn and get his ass out of poverty with a real job. This was definitely not a place for Keith to  _start falling in love-_

Nope. He wasn't going down that road. Not right now. Keith had more important things to worry about than his feelings. His feelings would stay locked up in a cage far away from the front of his mind. They didn't matter. What  _mattered_ was the fact that Keith was on the verge of panic, because this entire game would fall apart if he went into heat or got sick from taking too many pills.

_Why_ could Keith not remember? Why was it foggy in his mind? He had thought about counting the remaining pills, but some could have fallen on the floor when he wasn't paying attention, so that wasn't reliable.

Keith deleted the browser history and turned the computer off. There was only one other option, and it was an option Keith didn't particularly like, but it would have to be done.

He picked his bag up off the floor and slung it over his shoulder. Keith hurried out of the library and off-campus. In the morning, the streets were surprisingly full of people. Keith tried not to be too close to anyone and silently walked to the alley that he knew the Voltron gang frequented.

The Voltron gang was fairly wide-spread, known across the country as notorious drug dealers and hackers. Keith wasn't sure what their goal was, but he didn't care about that other than the fact that they supplied his scent blockers and heat suppressors. He wasn't sure if they knew that he was an omega or if they thought he was buying them for someone else, but they seemed to be sympathizers enough to probably not turn him in for being a runaway omega. They had to be sympathizers, if they were willing to break the law to sell helpful drugs for omegas.

Finding out that there were other omegas who weren't willing to stay by the side of an alpha gave Keith so many more possibilities.

Keith attempted to discreetly turn into the alleyway, where he was met with a short person- beta? Or scent blockers? He couldn't tell- in a mask. Keith spotted the rainbow-colored pin that marked them part of the Voltron gang.

"What do you want?" they demanded, in a voice surprisingly strong for how small they were, and Keith was pretty small. Did that mean he shouldn't be insulting them for their size? Probably.

Keith paused, wondering if this was such a good idea after all. In the end, he decided he might as well. It would be a nightmare if he didn't find out and took one anyway and got sick. He wouldn't have a choice of hospital or anything and they would find out what he was anyway. "So... do you guys have a way to figure out how many heat suppressors someone's taken?"

The person stepped back for a second and tilted their head, then nodded. "We do. It would require a medical scan."

Keith closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay. What would I have to do to get that?"

"Why do you need to find out how many heat suppressors someone's taken?"

Keith frowned at them. "Because I can't remember if I took them or not, and that's kinda a big deal. Heat or death. Both equally terrible."

The person froze. "You're an omega?"

Keith tapped his fingers on his leg anxiously. This was it. Shay figuring it out was different from Keith intentionally outing himself. With Shay, they both knew, but with this stranger? He didn't know what to expect. But, slowly, he said, "Yes...?"

The person cursed, and Keith got the feeling he should've worn a mask too. What if they knew him? What if they were just infiltrating the Voltron gang, and Keith was going to be arrested?  _Fuck._ "Look, come with me. We'll get the medical scan done, but we need to talk." They grabbed Keith by the arm and pulled him through a door.

Inside, the building was dark. There were sounds of people around, but none of them were loud enough that you could hear from the outside. The person led Keith up several flights of stairs and down a long hallway until they opened a door to a bright white room. The room looked a lot like what Keith had heard hospitals looked like- clean. Obnoxiously white. No one was inside apart from Keith and the stranger.

They sat Keith down in a chair and picked up a needle. They cleaned it with a light blue cloth and drew in a red substance.

"Sorry," they told Keith. "You gotta be knocked out for this." There was a small stinging pain after they spoke, and Keith's world faded.

...

When he woke up, he was in the same room. The stranger was still there, writing something down.

"Did I already take it?" Keith asked, his voice still raspy from being unconscious.

"No," the stranger said. "I gave one to you, so you should be good for this month. But we need to talk about stuff." They sat down in a chair opposite Keith and pulled their mask off.

Keith's eyes widened and he froze. It felt like he was paralyzed, no, this wasn't happening, he was hallucinating-

Because Pidge's bright amber-brown eyes looked back at his own.

"Pidge?" he whispered, his voice breaking.

"Yeah," she said with a sigh. "Keith, you... you're an omega."

Keith still couldn't move from his spot, so he just continued to stare at her. "Please don't tell anyone, please, please, please..." He felt pathetic, begging, but more pathetic was being auctioned off and being owned by some alpha, so it would be worth it.

"I won't," Pidge muttered. "I just... I don't know how to feel. I became part of Voltron for some research my brother wanted done, and... here I am."

Keith tried to control his breathing. He let his muscles relax, and he was able to move again, at least a little. "You're probably wondering why."

"No, it..." Pidge laughed a little. "It explains a lot, actually. But... why did you try to go to college? That's illegal, although you probably don't care about that aspect of it, and it's so easy to get caught. Didn't you sit through that lecture yesterday?"

"Yeah," Keith said quietly. "I know."

Something sparked in Pidge's brain and it was reflected in her eyes. "Were you in the presentation? Shay was."

"Yes," Keith admitted, looking away. "Apparently I'm famous. Guess I never noticed."

"You were the kid that ran away from Zarkon?"

Keith nodded and bit his lip, not wanting to give away any more information than he already had. This was already too much for him. He wanted to go back to bed, and it was still morning.

Pidge sighed. "Alright, you want to leave. Fine. I won't tell anyone. Just... were you ever planning on telling anyone?"

Keith looked back up at the beta and said flatly, "No."

Pidge nodded and stood up. Keith stood up as well and followed Pidge back downstairs, through the building and out into the alley. Keith didn't spare Pidge a second glance when he walked away.

Keith had no idea what to think. Would Pidge keep her word? She seemed reasonable and trustworthy, but you could never be sure. People who think they have everything are willing to lie and backstab to get their way.

...

When he got back to the dorm, Lance was awake. Since there was no point in hiding it anymore, Keith dumped his stuff on the floor and went hunting for the pill bottle. When he found nothing but clothing, he frowned.

"Lance, did you do something with the pills?" Keith asked.

"No, why?"

Keith didn't respond and kept looking. He had practically torn up the room by the time Lance stopped him. Lance stepped behind him and rested his hands on Keith's shoulders, and Keith froze, heat rising in his face.

"Relax, Keith. Maybe there's cameras or something in here, and I'm pretty sure drugs aren't allowed," Lance offered. "If it matters that much, just buy more and take them off-campus."

_Cameras?_

Keith was in a world of trouble.

And when he tried to find where he stored money for heat suppressors and scent blockers?

That was gone too.

This was a mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so on updates: i'm going to be with family for the next three(?) weeks(right up to season 7) so updates will be way slower but once season 7 hits we'll be back on schedule
> 
> thank you for reading!


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> keith has no fucking idea what's going on  
> this chapter wasn't supposed to be emotional but we WENT THERE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (how the fuck did i not even notice the fact that i forgot to put rape/noncon as a warning?? like? tf past me??)  
> (it's fixed now.)  
> (on with the story.)  
> whoops this chapter is short

"Where do you think you're going?" Lance asked dryly when Keith prepared to bolt out the door.

"Uh..." That gave Keith pause. Where  _would_ he go? This was the problem with other people, someone always had to mess him up. But Keith, when he thought about it for a second, realized that he didn't actually have anywhere to go or any logical solution.

Damn.

"Look, Keith," Lance sighed. "Don't get me wrong, it's not like I've been totally drug-free or anything, but-"

"- it's not drugs, Lance-"

"-but you can't just go barging off to complain to Coran about your drugs getting taken."

Keith stared at him for a moment before he sighed. Alright, yes, Lance was right for probably the first time ever. But what  _was_ he supposed to do, then?

Keith's expression must have tipped Lance off, because the alpha nodded and said, "Instead, we can find out if there's any strikes against you, which the letter for probably won't show up for a day or two, from the school database. If there is, then we can figure out a better way to do things, and it'll at least tell you that it's school, not someone else. And if there isn't, that means someone else doesn't want you to have your pills, okay?"

That... actually made sense. More sense than running off aimlessly. Keith scowled at Lance and crossed his arms, but he said, "Okay, fine," anyways.

Lance grinned brightly, and Keith looked away. He didn't deserve that trained on him. Not when Keith had lied so much, and now he was roping Lance into this. That wasn't fair, was it? But he doubted Lance would take no for an answer, no matter what Keith told him.

"Great! Let's go," Lance said cheerfully. He walked towards Keith and hooked their arms together before dragging Keith out the door.

Keith was in so much trouble.

...

"Lance, were you out of the room at some point this morning?" Keith asked while they waited for the computer to start up. Not surprisingly at all, after so many years without it, Keith was terrible at computers and technology in general, but he figured Lance had to know what he was doing if he had suggested it in the first place. But then again, Lance was known to exaggerate the truth sometimes.

A lot of the time.

"Yeah," Lance said. "I went out to get coffee."

"Did you leave the door unlocked?"

Lance frowned and didn't respond for a second before his reply. "I'm not totally sure, but dorm doors have barely any security in the first place."

Keith nodded as he tapped his finger on the table. Why did these things take so long to boot up? Why did it show the company logo a million times? Seriously, wouldn't it be easier to just leave it on? Or use paper instead? Paper could be so efficient sometimes.

"Where did you go this morning, anyway?" Lance asked. "You were gone when I woke up."

Keith hesitated. "The library."

"Why do you look like you're lying?"

He growled under his breath. Why was Lance so perceptive? Shouldn't  _omegas_ be the perceptive ones, with all of their... childcare stuff? That was a thought Keith didn't need to have again. "I did go to the library." And yes, he did. He also went to much more important places, but Lance didn't need to know that Keith was even more illegal than he thought.

"Sure," Lance said, and his tone of voice gave away how much he  _doubted_ that was true. Keith decided not to respond to that.

They sat in silence for a few minutes while the computer loaded up and Keith signed in. Then there was more loading. Great. How had he not even noticed it earlier? It had gone by much quicker when Lance wasn't sitting right next to him. If Keith moved his arm out, even just a little, it would probably hit Lance's.

That thought shouldn't have warranted a shiver down Keith's spine.

"Hey, Lance?" Keith asked suddenly, and silently cursed his lack of a filter. Too late to turn back now. "Why'd you try to hold my hand at the presentation... yesterday?" Was that yesterday? Damn. It felt like it had been months ago already.

Keith really needed a break. When was break? Was there break? He needed to get away from these people. They were absolutely ruining him.

"Oh... that?" Lance frowned and looked around before he said quietly, "Some of my siblings were omegas."

So he was right? Interesting. Keith listened intently as Lance went on.

"I have... had four siblings. My older sister, Veronica, and my little brothers- they were twins- Marco and Luis. I had another sister, but... no one likes to talk about her. Veronica was an alpha, she was great." Lance looked like he was in pain as he spoke. "I was born after her, so I'm second oldest, another alpha. My parents' luck was great, I guess."

Keith tried to push aside the thought that  _his parents_ weren't really lucky at all. How could they be lucky, if one of them was practically a slave to the other? But then again, Lance had come from them.

That was terrible logic, if applied to Keith.

"So they tried again, and they got... my other sister. It was so much fun to have a younger sibling. But then she turned out to be an omega, and she was... taken away. She tried to fight back, so they killed her."

The computer had loaded, but Keith was focused on Lance's face, and Lance's eyes, a beautiful, brilliant blue, watery with tears. He was beautiful. Keith wasn't ashamed to admit that. His bright, soulful, radiant eyes. Keith didn't deserve to have Lance's attention fixed on him. He didn't deserve to hear this story, after all of the lies he had told. But he kept his own eyes on Lance's, and refused to miss a single detail.

"From then on, none of us liked to mention omegas. My parents tried to have another child and got Marco and Luis, but Marco turned out to be an omega, too, and we never saw him again. He would only be fourteen at this point." Lance's voice sounded choked, and he ducked his head, away from Keith's gaze. "No one's supposed to care about the omegas that get taken away, I know. But... how does the fact that they can bear children mean they're worth less than the rest of us? What makes alphas better than betas, and everyone better than omegas?"

Those were words Keith had said to himself a million times. In his head and out loud at night, when no one was around. And to hear someone else say those words, to agree with them? It meant more than Keith had ever imagined.

He closed his eyes tightly and slowly leaned into Lance, just giving support. It didn't matter what either of them were- because their pain was real, and they could understand each other, even if Lance had no idea.

Lance made a soft noise and wrapped his arms around Keith. Keith buried his face in Lance's neck, hoping that would stifle the tears. When had he ever been this emotional? Why was Lance making him feel that way? How had everything gone so wrong?

But it wasn't wrong, it was the best moment in Keith's entire life, because he finally felt  _okay._

It lasted forever and for only a few seconds, but when Keith pulled away, he felt infinitely better. Like he had confidence that this would work. That he could get through school and figure out what was going on with his heat suppressors and stolen money- he hadn't even thought of that, he probably should have mentioned that- without getting discovered by someone more likely to drag him away and sell him to some pretentious dick of an alpha.

They were quiet for a moment before Lance said, "The computer's loaded."

Time to go back to the real world.

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *with the lovely voice of ravi ross* hellooo there, peoples--  
> (that kid was a real legend)
> 
> ANYWAY
> 
> i have no clue what the upload schedule's going to be like in the future, but since i usually write a chapter in one sitting, it'll probably be like once a week? maybe twice if i really have that much freetime for whatever reason?  
> (hint: the reason is that i don't have f r i e n d s)
> 
> thanks for reading! see you sometime? hopefully?


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> no, lance, you did not solve the kogane mystery.  
> no, pidge, keith does not want to talk about his drama with you.  
> no, keith, you're not going to find out who took your pills.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mamma mia here we go again

"There's nothing," Lance said, much more confused than Keith felt made sense. Okay, maybe Lance wasn't all that experienced with people not liking the fact that he existed, but surely he would get it?

It tempted Keith to tell him his secret, just for Lance's mind to explode, but  _no,_ that was a bad idea, Keith.  _Pidge_ knowing was bad enough, and he barely knew her. She hadn't had all that big of a reaction, but Keith still couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that someone  _knew._ Someone more important than a fellow omega who had already promised not to tell. No, a beta.

What was he going to do? Too much was going on at once, and Keith didn't know how to understand it all.

"Of course there's nothing," Keith muttered. He glanced at the time in the corner of the screen. It was only one? His entire life had turned upside down, and barely any time had passed?

"Alright." Lance sighed and slouched back in his chair. "Well, Keithy, guess we'll have to figure something else out."

"Don't ever call me that again."

"Fine, fine." Lance grinned easily. How could someone possibly be sad one moment, and happy the next? "Did you happen to notice anything else missing?"

Keith paused and thought about it for a moment before replying. "Yeah... my money. But it was underneath all my stuff, and it was only savings for- for-" He glanced away.

Lance nodded. He gave Keith a sympathetic look. "Your parents don't really have all that much, do they?"

Keith stiffened and met Lance's eyes. If he had been able to, he would have laughed out loud.  _Parents._ An omega whose name he never knew and one of Zarkon's disgusting lackeys. "No, they're fine."

Lance was silent for a moment. "Keith... you know you can ask any of us for help if you need it, right? We're here for you. We're friends. And sorry if it bothers you, how... how  _rich_ our families are."

How the fuck did Lance even manage to make that sentence sound sweet and tender?

_Priorities, Keith._

"I'm fine, Lance, okay? My... family is fine, I'm sure it won't be difficult for me to get more money. I've done it before, I can do it again." He chewed anxiously on the inside of his cheek.  _Would_ he be able to do it? He hadn't had a job in a while, since he had saved up enough to quit his old job- it was best to quit after he made enough to last him long enough for everyone to forget about him. Keith didn't want to be memorable. He didn't want to make an impact.

That was a lie, he did. He did want to be remembered. But... not for those things. Being noticed for those reasons would keep him from ever changing society. Keep him from ever being part of society.

Lance stared at him for a second with wide eyes before gasping. "Keith, are you a  _hooker?_ _"_

"What- what the fuck?" Keith stared back, shocked. "Lance, no!"

"I could totally see that," Lance ranted. "Tragic anime backstory, power bottom for money- oh my god, Keith, I just solved the Kogane Mystery!"

"Kogane My- you know what, nevermind. Lance, I swear that's not it," Keith insisted. "I just work at cafes and stuff whenever it's convenient! No sex involved!"

Lance laughed, his face breaking out into a smile. Why the hell did he shine brighter than anything else in Keith's life? Okay, Keith  _knew_   why, but a real reason, not an  _omega reason._

"Keith, buddy, it's fine. Sure. You  _don't_ do that."

Keith sighed and reached over to turn the computer off. "Whatever. I'm going to go... study. Bye." He stood up abruptly and left, leaving Lance alone in the library.

It was really getting ridiculous, at this point, the emotions that told him to go back.

...

Keith was really lucky that the hadn't found his scent blockers.

He thought over his situation, a week later, as he tiredly mixed a cup of coffee for a customer. Lance had apparently told Coran about Keith's need for a job, and Coran had recommended him to the coffee shop on-campus. It could be loud in the afternoon, but it was mostly filled with university students just as tired-looking as Keith. A surprising lack of omegas crawling at their alpha's feet. It was... nice. Yes, Keith was exhausted, balancing school, work, and his stress over his entire existence, but it was tolerable. Mostly.

"James," he called as he put the lid on the cup and pushed it over the counter. He tried not to scowl at the boy who smoothly picked up the cup and winked at him. Why did some people feel the incessant need to flirt? Was it an alpha thing? All his inner omega ever told him to do was cuddle up to the closest alpha and let himself be in bliss. Which... wasn't really all that terrible, but Keith refused, because it could... awaken some instincts. Or something. He'd never been in heat before, how was he supposed to know?

The jingle of the bells on the door woke him from his thoughts, and Keith looked up to see Pidge, Hunk, and Lance walk into the cafe. All three of their faces brightened when they saw him. Keith just managed not to groan. He really,  _really_ didn't need to talk to them? He hadn't really talked to them in a while, either. The last time he had gone with them on some adventure was a few days ago, when Lance dragged him there.

"Hey, Keith!" Hunk called with a small smile. Keith gave a halfhearted wave as they got in line behind the next customer. How could he possibly drag this out with the beta in front of him not getting upset?

He got away with five minutes before they started to look annoyed, so he finished it up and turned to his... friends. Were they friends? Yes? What did "friends" really even mean?

"Hey guys," he said, mustering as much fake cheer as he possibly could.

Which wasn't a lot.

"Long time no see!" Lance said.

Keith gave him a flat stare. "I saw you this morning."

"Yeah, but that was  _hours_ ago!"

Keith rolled his eyes. "Okay. Anyway, what do you guys want?" He paused, then rattled off the specials, like he had been told to, but had refrained from doing thus far, as it only annoyed people rather than interested them.

Pidge snorted. "Keith, they turned you into corporate propaganda. I can't believe you. My fellow conspiracy theorist."

"Just doing my job."

The three of them ordered their drinks, and Keith gladly escaped to do that instead of talk to them. He ignored the curious and sympathetic glances from the three of them. Did Pidge tell either of them? She promised she wouldn't, but... who knew what went through her mind? But Lance would be more freaked out if he knew, right? And Hunk wasn't all that great at hiding his emotions, either.

When Keith finished, he let out a soft sigh and called out, "You know who you are."

The trio all smiled at him and took their drinks. He let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding when they peacefully went back to their table.

Work continued on for a while. He made some drinks. Reveled in the fact that he didn't have to deal with anyone else, since he was the only one on shift. Ignored some people or comments he heard from distant tables.

Pidge, Hunk, and Lance didn't leave for a long time. They just stayed at their table, talking animatedly and smiling. Keith refused to even acknowledge that he wished he was there with them. He did his work. Tried not to focus on them.

When the people for the next shift finally came in, Keith wasted no time in ditching the bright-colored apron and collected his things. He was about to walk out the door when he heard someone call his name.

"Keith! Hey, Keith!" Pidge called. "Can I talk to you?"

_Absolutely not._

"Sure."

He and Pidge stood in a quiet, dark corner. Her glasses- or was that her  _eyes?-_ flashed.

"So, Keith," Pidge said. "Uh... are you good with all of your..." She waved her hands vaguely in the air. "Stuff?"

Keith frowned. "Yeah, Pidge. I'm... fine."

"Okay!" she said quickly. "That's great! Um... glad you're okay?"

Keith snorted. "'Okay' is a relative term."

Pidge nodded. "Yeah, yeah, of course. If you need anything just... ask me? Okay?"

He sighed. Did she not understand that he had been doing this his entire life? "Sure, Pidge."

Pidge gave a weak attempt at a smile and rushed back to the table. Keith followed slowly, and watched as the others got up and threw their trash away. He reached them just as they were about to walk out the door.

Lance caught him as Pidge and Hunk walked ahead, both of them ranting about something Keith didn't understand. "Hey, what was that all about?"

"Oh, uh- nothing."

Lance nodded. He studied Keith for a moment before he lit up. "Oh my god, Keith, do you let betas fuck you, too?"

Keith scowled. "Don't ever talk to me again." He sped up, passing Lance.

"I know your secret, Keith! It's the Kogane Mystery! You can't deny it forever!"

Despite himself, Keith smiled.

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me honor the 50+ kiffin fics on here
> 
> anyway, hey! i'm trying an upload schedule, so maybe expect updates on tuesdays? hope you enjoyed this chapter! i swear we're getting somewhere!
> 
> (i started listening to abba halfway through, does it show??)


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> keith has run into a pretty big Issue™  
> some big things are in store for the smol boi

It's been three weeks, and Keith's run into a problem.

Kind of a big problem.

Like, really, really big problem. Life-risking problem. Could-totally-ruin-everything-he's-worked-for kind of problem.

Because it's been nearly a month since his life turned to absolute shit. A month since he started working his ass off for more heat suppressors. A month since aforementioned heat suppressors were stolen. Oh, also, a month since  _someone discovered his secret._ All of those things were combining to create one massive issue that left Keith without a clear answer. And this time, he didn't have a way to get the others to help without blatantly lying to their faces even more than he already had.  _Or_ he could tell them his secret, but no way in hell would Keith ever do that.

Shay knowing was bad.  _Pidge_ knowing was even worse. Did Keith need to let some alpha in on his secret, too? Absolutely-fucking-not. He had been lying to them for  _months._ He couldn't trust that they would treat him as well as they treated Shay- and were they even treating Shay all that well? Keith had no clue. He had only met her once, and that was what felt like forever ago. He wasn't all that great at keeping track of time. Pretending to live in society like you belonged there could do that to you, he guessed.

But enough dancing around. Keith didn't have enough money to buy  _one_ pill. Those things were expensive, and Keith wasn't earning enough money at his cafe job. It was nice, and he really did like it, but... what was he supposed to do? Based off of what he had earned so far- he was paid weekly- he wouldn't earn enough this next week to meet the price.

Keith stared up at the stars. They stared coldly back at him. What had he done to earn this? Why couldn't they leave him alone? He was just one of many people that wanted to learn more. He had no clue  _who_ took his heat suppressors, but he supposed that didn't really matter yet. Maybe if it became a bigger issue, but... it was okay. So far.

But... back to the problem at hand. Keith groaned and let his arm flop over his eyes. He was laying on the roof of the small observatory to the side of the astronomy building. It was absolutely freezing, and Keith had nothing but that red jacket. He used to have a winter coat, but he had lost it at some point that year. Surprisingly, no one was on the roof with him, which was strange. He had thought he would find some smokers, a few avid astronomy students, and maybe even a few couples. Maybe some that fit all of those. But no, it was just him, cold and alone on the roof. Staring at the stars.

Yeah, Keith really had his life together.

He hadn't been going back to his and Lance's dorm room lately, mostly because he didn't want to see Lance more than he had to, but Keith didn't want to wake him up with his early hours. Lance always looked a bit tired, and Keith didn't want to be the cause of that.

For some reason, Lance and the others were still making an effort to be his friends. Keith didn't understand why they even bothered. He tried to tell Shiro that, but Shiro had just shook his head and told him that they cared about him. They still tried to drag him out to social events, but nothing big. Nothing all that useful, either.

Keith sat up with a sigh and drew his knees up to his chest. What was he going to do? He had  _nothing._ He wouldn't ask for money, and he couldn't get a higher-paying job anytime soon...

What Lance had said- was that two weeks ago?- flashed to the front of his mind, and he shuddered. Prostitution. Not an idea option. But... it would earn him money, wouldn't it? Surely an unmated omega's virginity would sell for a lot on the black market.

Keith felt sick. He couldn't believe he was honestly contemplating selling his body.  _Again._ The last time he had done that, he had been in a bad place, and Keith refused to let this drag him down that far.

But... what was he  _supposed_ to do? Keith had no clue.

What could Keith solve? Being cold, for one, he supposed. And maybe relieve a little bit of his exhaustion. So he stood up, stiff with cold, and dragged himself back inside for a moment to warm up before heading back to the dorm and collapsing into bed.

Maybe the idea would come to him. A lot could happen in a week, surely.

...

The next morning brought with it the last day of classes for the week. Sweet, sweet Friday. Then Keith could make himself scarce for the weekend while he tried to figure out his problems.

Unfortunately- although Lance claimed otherwise- Lance woke up first, since he actually meant to be there, while Keith usually woke up with the sun if he slept at all, so he had no alarm system in place. Plus, he hadn't really slept in a long time. Apparently, when Lance woke up and saw Keith, he screamed. That was a good enough alarm system.

Keith jolted awake and out of bed in barely a second and glanced around blearily for a moment before his gaze landed on Lance and he relaxed.

"Good morning," Keith said quietly and tried to ignore the flush rising in his cheeks.

"Morning, Keith," Lance replied, an eyebrow quirked. "Thought you didn't like to hang around here anymore?"

Keith glanced away. Had he hurt Lance by doing that, somehow? "No. I just... it'll be over soon. I'll figure it out. Then... I don't know."

Lance nodded, a frown passing over his face. "Do you need- like, help? Or something?"

He stiffened. "No, Lance. I'm fine. It's just... growing pains."

Lance sighed. "Keith, you know you can take a break? You don't have to force yourself to keep working even when you  _can't._ "

Lance probably had no clue what that was like. He was a rich alpha with a big, happy family, who got everything he ever wanted. He probably never had to work for a thing. He had gone to  _boarding school_ with all of his little friends. His basic alpha and omega parents had probably paid for everything. Lance had no clue-

No fucking clue-

Keith growled at himself. Now was  _not_ the time to be freaking out about Lance, of all people.

Damn. He really was wound up.

Lance had been observing Keith's face throughout all of this, and Lance just  _lit up_ with a bright smile. "Keith! You should totally come to Allura's party tonight!"

Keith startled out of his thoughts. "Excuse me?"

"Allura's party! It'll be good for you, man. You need to relax."

Alright, that was true. Yes. Keith probably needed to do that. And a party- he had no idea what that was like, but it would probably be okay, right? 

Yeah, Keith probably needed to go if he was even considering it.

"Okay."

Lance actually stared at him for a moment, like he was in shock. Seriously? Keith almost revoked his answer, but then Lance spoke. "That's great, Keith! You'll have a blast, I swear. Allura's family has got the coolest house like twenty minutes away from here..."

While the alpha chattered away about some nonsense Keith barely registered, he started to get ready for the day- and mentally prepared himself for whatever the party would be like.

...

After a long day of classes, Keith was about ready to fall asleep forever and never wake up again, but Lance only let him sleep for a few hours before Lance convinced Keith to let him do his makeup. So Keith found himself sitting awkwardly on the floor in front of Lance, who did  _something_ , because Keith had never looked so fucking magical in his life.

He hoped he never needed to articulate that sentence, even in his mind, ever again.

Lance sent Keith into the bathroom to change into slightly less cheap-looking clothes- some leggings and a baggy red shirt- before vanishing to make himself look nice. Keith sat cross-legged on his bed awkwardly while he waited for Lance to come back. He kind of regretted this. What the fuck did Lance do to him? When Keith looked in the mirror, he was all... glittery and refined and shit. What would Lance do to  _himself?_

When Lance finally came out, he was practically  _sparkling._ How was his skin so smooth-looking? Why did his blue eyes stick out even  _more?_ Jeans fit on him very well, by the way. In case anyone was doubting that. Keith had never blushed so much in his life.

"Come on, Keith!" Lance said cheerfully. "We're off! You won't regret this!"

Keith wasn't so sure about that.

...

Well. Parties? They were loud. Keith didn't know how he felt about that.

Cars lined the street, and they could hear music from at least a block away. Keith looked up at the house. It was kind of intimidating. Was he the only one that thought that? Yes? Okay then. The closer they got, the more certain Keith was that this wouldn't be as great as he had hoped it would be.

By the time they got up to the door, Keith felt like the music was blasting through his body. Was the ground shaking? It kind of felt like that.

Lance grabbed his hand and pulled him through a throng of bodies and scents that Keith really didn't need to know about until they reached a densely-packed kitchen. They reached the counter, and Lance gave him a cup of something Keith couldn't identify.

"What is this?" Keith shouted over the noise.

"Don't worry!" Lance called back. "Just drink it, Keithy." He grinned, while Keith groaned.

Keith studied the liquid in the cup once more. Even though no one had explicitly warned him to never take drinks from strangers, he had figured that out over the years. But maybe alcohol would give him some stupid idea that would actually work? That was stupid, but Keith downed the cup in a single go.

"Damn!" Lance laughed. "Want another one, buddy?"

His head swimming, Keith nodded.

Lance handed him another one, and they left the kitchen to stand on the edge of what might've been some sort of ballroom? There were a lot of people, and it was kind of dark, okay? And everything was sort of blurry. Had Keith ever had alcohol before? No. And with his luck, he was probably a lightweight, too. But did that matter? No. Every time he finished one, he accepted the offer of another one.

At some point, Lance had spotted someone he wanted to go talk to or something- Keith didn't really remember? But he was doing okay, just chilling on the sidelines with his cup. Keith was okay.

Until another guy sidled up to him.

"Hello, beautiful."

Keith turned at the voice and looked up at a very tall alpha. He was gorgeous- nowhere near as beautiful as Lance, but getting there.

"Hey," Keith tried to say, although it fit a bit awkwardly in his mouth, like his tongue was swollen. Or... something.

"Care to dance?" the guy asked.

Keith decided to forgo words and just nod his head furiously. For this guy? Sure, why not? He was getting kind of bored, right? Hands settled on his hips, and Keith closed his eyes and held onto the arms attached with a stupid smile on his face. If he couldn't have Lance, might as well settle for this guy, right?

Why couldn't Keith have Lance? Reasoning was a bit all over the place, but Keith just knew he couldn't have Lance. For some reason. He wasn't totally sure, but that was definite.

"Want to go somewhere else?" A voice whispered in his ear.

"Okay," Keith agreed blankly and sped up his clumsy steps to keep up with the pace the alpha was keeping as he led Keith up some stairs and down a long hallway. The noise of the party had faded to a vague buzzing in the background. Keith distantly wondered if Lance talked to whoever he wanted to talk to.

A door opened, and he was pulled through, and then a door closed. Then Keith found himself pressed against something- the door? Again? What was with the fixation on the door?- and lips crashed into his own. It may have been his first kiss, but everything was a blurry, incoherent mess, and he didn't have a clue what was going on. A soft whine escaped Keith.

Kisses and small bites ran up and down his neck, and Keith began panting, and he began a quiet, repetitive chant.

_"Alpha_ , _alpha, alpha..."_

"Such a whore," a voice whispered into his ear, but Keith could barely comprehend it. He didn't care that he was risking everything he had built. Because he was drunk, confused, and filled with all of those omega-like emotions he had been suppressing his entire life.

But then the door slammed open- so Keith wasn't against the door, after all?- and someone was yelling. Lance? It sounded like Lance. Why was Lance there?

The alpha moved away from him, and Keith sank to the floor without any support to keep him upright. His eyes slipped closed and he felt exhaustion war with lust in his body, but his mind just didn't care. Was that thought coherent? Were any of his scattered thoughts making any sense?

Then the other alpha was gone, and there was just Lance. Lance, Lance, Lance. He pulled Keith up onto the actual bed and rested Keith's head on his lap. A small sound akin to a purr escaped Keith and he curled into the warmth, a small, content smile on his face.

Lance sighed and threaded his fingers through Keith's hair. "You okay, buddy?"

Keith, too far gone to come up with a reasonable response, simply whined and brought his hands up to grip Lance's shirt tightly. Nothing made sense. Was it too loud? Too much? It was everything and nothing at once, and the world was spinning.

The alpha gave a small laugh. "Man, you're going to hear about this tomorrow morning and be so embarrassed..."

Keith got the feeling that Lance was smiling at him.

There was silence for a little bit before Lance spoke once more.

"Guess the great Keith Kogane is a kinky bitch like the rest of us after all, huh?" Lance chuckled softly. "Never knew alphas acting like omegas was a kink."

For the first time, Keith mustered up some words for a response as he faded off to sleep. "'s'not a kink, 's the truth."

"What?"

Lance's fingers froze in his hair, and distantly Keith registered that as a bad sign, but he was half-asleep and perfectly content with the alpha he desired. Keith was safe and warm, and all felt right in the world.

So he drifted off to sleep, without a clue that his secret had been exposed for the third time- and definitely in a more dangerous way.

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yikes  
> so i write the end notes like halfway through chapters to keep my motivation up, and i was originally going to split it up in two or three parts, so the notes were super chill and about the kmart paladins and other dumb stuff  
> but then this happened  
> yay??  
> hope you enjoyed?  
>  ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> ~oooh what's gonna happen next it'll be big~


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> there's some important things to talk about, aren't there?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y i k e s

When Keith woke up the next morning, he was alone.

Soft morning light filtered through the curtains, and he limply pushed himself up and uncurled his legs from underneath himself. A pounding headache absorbed his first waking thoughts, and he felt tired. Like all of the work he had been doing in the past few weeks had finally caught up with him.

Keith groaned and blinked blearily in an attempt to clear the sleep from his eyes. He took a deep breath and dragged himself to the edge of the bed, letting his legs dangle.

He tried to clear his thoughts, try and remember what happened the night before, but it was all a blur. All he was certain of was that he wasn’t in his dorm, he was at one of Lance’s friends’ houses, and that Lance was wrong. That party most certainly did  _ not _ relax him.

The first attempt to stand up was a failure that left Keith in a half-crouch, his arms holding him up. The second attempt was a success, and though his legs felt like jello, Keith was fairly certain that he would be able to make it out of the room and preferably back to his dorm, or someone that would be willing to take him there.

He stumbled to the door and managed to open it. Keith looked around at the empty hallway for a moment before his mind sparked back to reality.  _ What time is it? _

_ Do I need to take scent blockers now? Do I smell like an omega now? _

He shivered and closed his eyes.  _ What happened last night? _

Keith attempted to twist his own head and figure out if he smelled like… well, himself… but couldn’t come to a clear answer. He awkwardly shifted his shirt so that it covered his collarbone and hoped that would be enough.

Carefully, Keith made his way out of the doorframe and down the hallway. He tripped over the stairs when he heard Lance’s voice, but otherwise, he made it down alive. Where was Lance? Keith could really use a way out of here.

Keith continued walking for a few seconds before he could clearly hear Lance’s usually loud voice. He found himself in front of a door, but he didn’t go through. Instead, Keith froze, and something told him  _ not to go through that door. _ Instead, he quietly listened. Keith was good at that.

"Allura, I... I don't know what to do."

"Surely he won't be mad at you for simply dragging him to a party? I've been through it plenty of times."

"It's not that, Allura, I..." Lance paused, then quietly continued. "Can you keep a secret? A really, really big secret? And it might not even be true. Maybe he was just confused..."

"Of course, Lance," Allura replied, and after a moment, she squealed. "Did he confess his feelings to you?"

"Damn, I wish." Lance groaned. "Listen, this... I don't know. I've been in serious stuff before, I know what it's like... my sister, Shay, Voltron... but this? It's... worse. Because I thought I trusted him. I thought I  _knew_ this guy. I mean, hell, we've been living in the same room for months!"

And that was when it occurred to Keith that they were talking about him. His stomach dropped. No way. No way did Lance know his secret. Keith wasn't that much of an idiot. No, it was probably something else dumb and trivial that only rich alphas cared about. Maybe he did something weird that brushed Lance the wrong way.

But... he tried to think of how he had woken up that morning. On a  _bed._

Did Lance...? Would he really...?

_ No, no, no, no, _ _no..._ Keith began to panic. What did he do? Oh god, if he wasn't wearing his scent blockers, everyone would know he was there, an anxious omega is difficult to miss.  _Was_ he wearing his scent blockers? What did he  _do?_

_What would_ Lance _do?_

It was stupid that Keith had literally no one else to base his decisions off of, but he was already pushing open the door, his heart pounding as both Allura and Lance's heads whipped around to find him standing there.

"Oh, hello, Keith!" Allura said brightly. "How are you feeling?"

"Uh," Keith said, his eyes darting to the side before returning to the two alphas, "my head hurts?"

"Hunk left some of his good tea!" Lance offered. "It's probably still pretty good." He turned around and poured some green-colored drink into a mug. He handed it to Keith with an awkward smile.

Keith looked at it suspiciously for a moment before giving in and taking a sip. It was delicious, he had to admit. 

Allura glanced between the two of them before brightly smiling and stepping away. "Well, I'll be cleaning up! My father won't love this mess, and honestly, who doesn't enjoy some cleaning?"

Keith caught Lance's betrayed look before it turned into an easy smile. "Sure, Allura. I'll help you in a little while. I'll stay with Keith, to, um... reorient him."

Keith had no clue what that meant, but he doubted that was what their conversation would be about. As Allura easily slipped out of the room, Keith turned to Lance. "So. Um. What... do you want to talk about...?"

Lance frowned slightly before reaching into the pocket of his jeans and pulling out two small, crumpled pictures. The first was of a young girl who looked similar to Lance. She was smiling brightly, her eyes shining as the sun set in the background. The second was of a family that Keith assumed to be Lance's.

"Do you know who that is?" Lance asked, his voice slightly choked.

Keith nodded. "I think so. That's... your sister, isn't it?" He pried his hand off the mug and pointed at the picture of the girl.

"Yeah," Lance sighed. "It was taken a few days before we got the results back. She had just turned... four, can you imagine?"

Keith  _could_ imagine, actually, but he simply said nothing, just kept his gaze on the photos in Lance's hands.

"And this one..." Lance shifted the pictures so that the one with the family was on top. It was fairly simple- it wasn't professionally made. Keith guessed it was taken with a phone. "That's my family. Mi mama, mi papa, Veronica, Luis, and... Marco. This was taken a long time ago. I was probably... eight or nine?"

Keith studied the photo with a frown. It featured a tired-looking woman standing next to a proud-looking man. A girl, probably eleven or so, who must have been Veronica a little boy that must have been Lance, and two identical little kids with matching grins. Definitely Luis and Marco. Keith looked at the woman a bit harder. She was obviously an omega, and her exhausted, fake half-smile did a terrible job of convincing Keith that domesticity was any sort of answer to his prayers. He glanced back up at Lance and wondered if Lance knew how unhappy his mother must be.

"Keith, what's  _your_ sad story?"

Keith flinched a little, and his hands tightened around the mug. "There isn't one. Only child. Adopted by... a beta couple."

Lance nodded. "So why did you have to run out of that lecture a million miles an hour if you don't have a personal story?"

He gritted his teeth. Damn it Lance, why? "I just... didn't feel like being there."

"Really?" Lance asked. "So the omega injustice doesn't mean all that much to you?"

Keith just looked away. "Lance, seriously, lay off."

"I just want you to admit it when you're not drunk," Lance said. "Guess we were all idiots, right Keith? Should've known."

Keith stared up at him for a moment before carefully taking one last sip and placing the mug on the countertop. "I'm not the temperamental one here,  _alpha."_ Lance stared at him for a moment in awe before Keith bolted. No way was he staying there.

"Wait Keith!"

Right before he slammed the front door, Keith could have sworn he heard Lance shout, "I'm such an idiot! Why did I do that?"

Keith sighed and left the property as fast as he could.

...

A problem Keith was quickly realizing was that Allura's house was not  _twenty minutes away._ Try several miles from the city? He had already been walking for at least half an hour. At some point, a woman had walked out of her lovely expensive country house and shrieked at the sight of him. Keith had just kept walking. He hoped he wasn't breaking some sort of law. She had started waving a phone around, but he had tried to hunch his shoulders and ignore her.

Keith regretted that decision when a black car smoothly cruised down the road towards him. Keith frowned and tried not to look too concerned. A window opened.

"Hey, are you from that party last night at the Altea house?"

"No," he said stiffly.  


"One of your friends sent me," the guy offered brightly. Keith refused to even look at his face. "They just want you to get back to college safe and all, y'know? You're lucky to have good friends."

"Fuck off," Keith muttered. "I'm not getting in your  _car_ , douchebag."

"C'mon-" And then the car door was opening and someone stepped out. "I've gotta go to a game in an hour, dude. Let's go."

"No," he repeated, and whirled around to kick the guy in the face. "Leave me  _alone,_ okay?"

The guy staggered back, and a dark smile spread over his lips. "Too late now for that, isn't it?  _Omega."_

Keith hadn't been called that in a long, long time. He froze, and he wasn't able to respond when he was kicked onto his knees. He started struggling, but it wasn't enough. His wrists were tied, and just as the blindfold came for him, Keith noticed the date on the watch on the guy's wrist.

October 22.

One day before his birthday.

He stopped struggling, his mouth dry.

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh shiiiiiiiit
> 
> this was never going to be a calm chapter lmao  
> all will be explained in the next few chapters!
> 
> next chapter we'll get to see what everyone else thinks for the first time ever! a perspective switch! wow! i'm literally writing this to remind myself of that!
> 
> thanks for reading, see y'all next week


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the gang has to have a team meeting about hiding secrets  
> because seriously guys  
> but also they probably need to find keith

“I’m such an idiot!” Lance yelled at himself. “Why did I  _ do that?” _

Allura smoothly slipped back into the kitchen. “I assume it didn’t go well with Keith?”

Lance dragged a hand over his face. “I can’t believe… goddammit. I should’ve  _ known _ that wouldn’t work! Keith… of course.” He groaned and peeked at Allura. “Can I tell you that secret now?”

The woman frowned at him. “Does it pertain to Keith? I assume it’s why you were so… anxious earlier.”

“Yeah,” Lance muttered. “It’s… Jesus, Allura, it’s bad.”

Allura quirked a brow at him. “Is it why you’re radiating pheromones?”

Lance flushed. “Uh- no? I am?” He risked a glance down and immediately looked back up. Nope, not doing that.

_ I’m not the temperamental one here,  _ alpha.

“Whatever!” Lance said, hoping that the louder his voice was, the more it would drown out his mind, which was not  _ in the gutter- _ it  _ was _ the gutter. “Allura, you… you’ve worked with the Voltron gang, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “Lance, did anyone ever tell you that my father  _ created _ the Voltron gang? Of course I have.”

Lance stared at her, startled. “Really? I didn’t know that.”

“Well, he is, and I have.” Allura shook her head. “But I’m very interested in hearing this ‘secret’ you’ve been going on about for an hour by now.”

“Right,” he said. “Okay, so… so what if I told you that… that someone in our school isn’t an alpha or a beta?”

“The government has started to allow omegas to go to university?” Allura said sarcastically, a frown painted on her face. “Just explain.”

“Okay, well…” Lance took a deep breath, feeling guilty for a multitude of reasons, most of which he couldn’t articulate without his face flushing. “Someone is an omega. Someone that we know. And… and they’ve been pretending to be an alpha for as long as we’ve known them.”

A variety of expressions flashed over Allura’s face, surprise and conflict the most prominent. There was a moment of silence before she quietly responded, “Keith’s an omega, isn’t he?”

Lance nodded and his gaze dropped to the floor. He wasn’t… totally sure what that would mean for them yet but… he was just so confused.

“That explains something Pidge told me,” Allura said. “She’s been doing research for her brother, but I sent her to keep watch over the alley closest to the library… She said that ‘you never know who could be keeping a secret.’”

Lance frowned, then asked, “How long ago was that?”

Allura blinked at him. “Maybe a month ago, why?”

Lance gritted his teeth. Those…  _ pills. _

Guess they weren’t drugs after all.

That explained why Keith had stopped hanging around after they were stolen, then. And how he was anxious to spend too much time around them. And why he didn't have any money. Why he didn't talk about his family...

How did he miss it? It was  _so obvious._

"We need to talk to everyone," Lance said tiredly. "Like... is this something we should tell everyone? Not everyone, but... us. The rest of us. Pidge, Hunk, Shiro?"

Allura appeared to debate with herself for a moment before nodding. "Perhaps it would be helpful to talk to everyone. Should I invite everyone back?"

Lance shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe? I can drive everyone back if you want, since the school is probably spying on us."

"Spying on us?" Allura looked alarmed at the idea, but she nodded. "I suppose that does make sense."

"I'll be back soon," Lance promised. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and sent his friends a quick text to meet him in the parking lot before heading out the door and to his car. Lance hadn't drank too much last night, and his head didn't hurt too badly, so he would hopefully be fine.

He buckled in and began the drive back to university. About five minutes in, he grew bored and turned on the radio. The long, empty roads left Lance tempted to anxiously tap his foot, and that wasn't a good idea at all. He listened to the music for about ten minutes before he looked away for  _one second_ and jumped when he saw a black car careening towards him. Lance panicked a little bit and might've slapped a few buttons before the car was gone and it was just him and the fancy expensive houses yet again.

It took a few moments, but Lance noticed that he had accidentally switched the station. He went to switch it back- to the top hits, of course, what kind of out-of-date barbarian  _wouldn't-_ before he noticed what was actually being said.

And it wasn't good.

_ "....rumors of the infamous runaway omega from over ten years ago being returned! This has neither been confirmed nor denied by Lord Zarkon or any other government official, but there have been reports from several anonymous sources..." _

Lance didn't hear any more of what the reporter said after that. He didn't need to. The important thing was those few sentences.

... _Keith?_

Lance had never slammed the gas pedal as hard as he had in the next ten minutes in his entire life.

...

The ride back to Allura's house was awkward.

None of them had really talked- once they saw Lance's dark expression, they had all made the better decision in choosing not to talk. There were quiet, confused whispers from Pidge and Hunk in the backseat, but Lance and Shiro stayed silent.

Once they arrived, Allura gathered them in the living room. They all carefully settled in and studied Allura and Lance.

"Is this about Keith?" Pidge guessed.

Lance shot her a surprised look, but his shoulders dropped. "Yeah."

"Did you figure out the Kogane Mystery?" Hunk attempted to joke, but cringed at the look on Lance's face.

"Yes," he said miserably.

There was a brief silence before Shiro prompted, "...so?"

Lance hesitated before replying. "He's an omega."

There was a brief startled silence, but it went away quickly.

"Yeah, so what're we going to do about it?" Pidge asked. "Is he okay with you guys knowing?"

"You already knew?" Hunk said.

"Yeah, he came to Voltron because he couldn't remember if he'd taken his suppressants or not."

Shiro raised an eyebrow. "Did he? And is he alright?"

"Yeah," Pidge responded. "And... I don't know. Lance, Allura, you probably know, right? 'Cause he passed out with Lance last night."

Lance flushed, but he shook his head. "Have you guys watched the news at all?" He smacked his forehead. "Of course not, it just happened. But..." He glanced to Allura for help.

"Lance attempted to confront him," Allura explained, "but they got into a fight, I believe, and Keith ran away."

"And I heard on the radio that there are rumors that they got him."

"'They?'" Hunk echoed.

"The government," Pidge said with a sigh. "Of  _course._ He's that escaped omega, right? The one that got away from Zarkon and vanished forever?"

"Yeah, I think so," Lance muttered.

"Do you plan on going after him?" Shiro asked.

"Going after him?" Lance asked.

"When is Keith's birthday?" Allura asked suddenly.

"October 23," Hunk said almost immediately. They all stared at him. He shrugged. "What can I say? I like to know things."

"That's tomorrow, isn't it?" Lance said softly.

"They'll probably put him in the auction," Pidge pointed out. "I can forge papers for you, so that it says you're eighteen and you're legally allowed to... buy him. With luck, you'll be able to out-auction the competition- we can all help, right guys?"

"Yeah," the others said in unison.

"I can do this..." Lance murmured to himself.

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (i changed the name of the university to arus because i just realized it was voltron and we can't have the gang share the name with the school whoops)
> 
> what're they going to dooooooo  
> aight, thanks for reading y'all!  
> see ya next week!
> 
> (this is a little bit short, I know, but oh well, what can you do)


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> keith thinks about the cruelty of the world.  
> he might have a chance to escape.  
> he might not.

Keith…

Didn’t want to be there.

Didn’t want to face reality.

The reality? He had been captured- by who, he wasn’t quite sure, but did it really make a difference whether it was the government or some private company? They were both as corrupt, and they had the same end goal in mind.

Keith didn’t want to think about that end goal.

He had been knocked out at some point, and when he had come to, he had found himself in just as much darkness as before. He was somewhere… without a light. A collar bit into his neck, a chain attached to the wall behind it. Keith let out a little growl once again at being collared and chained up like… like an  _ animal. _ Like he wasn’t even human.

Why did his secondary gender have to define him? What was wrong with Keith saying, no, he didn’t want to become domestic and settle down, he wanted a career and happiness that he found for himself, not through someone that he was expected to depend upon? Why was he forced to be reduced to… to  _ this? _

Keith could’ve cried. He could’ve screamed. He could’ve begged for his freedom. He could have made himself no better than the fate he was already trying to escape. But he didn’t. Because that would be accepting defeat, and Keith would not take defeat lying down. He was better than this. He would escape. He  _ had to. _

A bright light suddenly flashed in his eyes, and Keith winced. He blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of the sight before him.

A tall, slender man walked into his…  _ cell. _ Pale. White hair. Elegant-looking. Absolutely  _ dripping _ alpha pheromones. Keith scowled at him.

“So you’re the little omega my father’s been chasing for ten years?” The man tilted his head down, looking archly at Keith. “I must say, you don’t seem very omega-like, although you do have the beauty of one.”

“What do you want?” Keith demanded. “I’m not going to do- to do anything for you.”

“No.” The man looked almost bored. “I am well-aware of your lack of cooperation. I suppose it was the way you were raised. Being an orphan living on the streets couldn’t possibly have taught you how to properly behave.”

“What’s the point of this?” Keith cut in sharply.

“My name is Lotor,” he said. “I’ve been tired of my father’s idiotic games lately, and I’ve decided that you would be an excellent way to get back at him.”

“What do you mean?” Keith frowned. “Like… what does that…”

“What does that entail?” Lotor finished. “I haven’t quite decided yet, and while I’m sure you would make a lovely addition to my omegas, there are other ways to anger him.” He studied Keith for a moment, then shook his head. “We will speak again another time, little omega.”

“Wait,” Keith said quickly, tossing aside his values. “What day is it?”

Lotor frowned at him. “Your auction will take place on your birthday, one day from now.”

Keith’s eyes trailed down to the floor. “Oh.” He almost said “thanks” but bit it back. This man didn’t deserve his gratitude.

Lotor left, and he turned the light off once again. Keith swallowed back the bile in his throat.

…

Hours alone in the dark cell gave Keith time to think. He thought about all of those things that had never occurred to him before- why would the Voltron gang and others like it sell heat suppressors and scent blockers if there weren’t any other rebelling omegas? What alpha in their right mind would willingly give their omega heat suppressors? What purpose did that serve? There was one, Keith was sure, but it probably wasn’t common, or they wouldn’t have to sell it in back alleys with masks to hide their identities.

_ You’re not alone, _ he tried reminding himself.

_ You’re literally locked in a dark solitary room and you haven’t seen anyone since that Lotor guy. _

Great.

Keith wondered if anyone would come for him. He wondered if Lance and the others even noticed he was missing. Damnit. He shouldn’t have distanced himself- and especially with whatever-the-fuck happened at that party. How did Lance figure it out? Did they… did they actually…?

_ Whatever. _ That didn’t matter. The important thing was that if he didn’t do anything, he would be sold, and he would have everything taken away. No more safety of scent blockers and heat suppressors. No more secrets. No more  _ freedom. _ He would be as much as a slave as his mother, as all of those omegas in the world, as all of those people that had died without ever knowing what it meant to be an individual, to be seen beyond their biology.

They were  _ people. _ Not objects, not toys, not something to just get fucked, give birth, and do what they were told. They deserved to do what they wanted with their lives without the influence of society. Why was it so difficult for people to understand that? An omega was just as much of a person as a beta or an alpha. It wasn’t  _ fair. _ The world wasn’t  _ fair, _ but that didn’t mean to embrace the idea and make it as terrible as possible. Did they realize, Keith wondered, that omegas were  _ conscious? _ That they were aware of how they were treated? That they understood what it all meant? Omegas had  _ thoughts _ beyond things like sex.

Keith passed for an alpha, so why did people assume that omegas were naturally weak and pathetic? Keith had survived on the streets when others would die. It didn’t matter if those people were alphas or betas or omegas. They were  _ more than that. _ Biology didn’t  _ define _ anyone. Alphas could be the “typical” alpha. Big. Strong. Interested in omegas. Or they could be small. They could like other alphas or betas or some combination. Betas didn’t have to be confined to other betas. They could be more than the “unimportant” part of the population. They could be like omegas or alphas. Omegas could be strong, too. They could have dreams other than a craving for an alpha. Nothing had to follow its set rules- because where had that gotten the world?

The world didn’t have to be this way. Society didn’t have to be this way. It could be so much more. Everything could be different. People could be happier. It wouldn’t be biased towards alphas or omegas. It would be… calm. Normal. Not set in specific ideals that are expected once you know what you are. There would finally be  _ equality. _

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, counting silently in his head. He had a headache. If he could, he would’ve curled up on his side and hoped for the best.

But he couldn’t.

Because there Keith was, chained, without any sign of rescue.

_ Why does it have to be like this? _

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was thinking about making this longer  
> but  
> then i didn't  
> i'm pretty tired  
> is this a commentary on some fairly important things? yes.  
> is there some foreshadowing? yes.
> 
> thanks for reading y'all
> 
> "are you tired of living under the tyranny of b̶e̶n̶d̶e̶r̶s̶ alphas? then join t̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶q̶u̶a̶l̶i̶s̶t̶s̶ voltron!"


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> keith's having a blast at the pre-auction preperations  
> not

Keith knew that it was time when the cell door opened once more.

He stiffened and struggled slightly when they unchained him, but he stopped after a few moments. He might as well save himself for whatever would come next. The auction. An alpha. There was  _nothing_ he could do to change his fate now. Keith was trapped.

When the chains came off, Keith didn't bother fighting back. This would be his life from now on, wouldn't it? A good, obedient omega. All he needed to do was sit still. Look pretty. Act like a whore. Pretend that it all mattered.

He growled slightly under his breath, but didn't make an effort to move away when a small beta appeared beside him and began to run a comb through his hair. Keith closed his eyes and pretended it was... his mother. Yes. In another world, where she was a strong woman, happy and confident, free of the confines of her secondary gender. He tried to remember her face, but all he saw was a blur.

Keith sighed and melted into the chair he sat upon. Might as well take relaxation while he still could, right? He doubted he would ever feel something this gentle again in his life.

He would be nothing from now on. He would never even touch a book or a computer again. Everything Keith had built for himself over the years- gone. And all because of a stupid argument with Lance. Why?  _Why_ had he done this to himself? He had ruined everything in his life- his pride, his secrets, his education, his friendships...

Everything.

Gone.

Keith made a silent vow to himself that if he ever saw Lance again, he would beg for forgiveness and escape. But a quiet part of himself told Keith that if that ever happened, Lance would probably drag him back to the light of campus and friends and laughter before he could finish a sentence.

_Forget Lance. Soon enough, you'll have a whole new alpha to try and figure out._

He gritted his teeth and tried not to think about that.

After brushing through the tangles in his hair, the beta gently pulled him up and said softly, "strip."

"What?" Keith should have expected this, but... he didn't want to face that reality yet.

"It'll be easier if you do it now instead of forcing them to," the beta said,  _them_ probably referring to the guards. "It'll happen sooner or later."

Keith let out a soft sigh and silently pulled his shirt off- it was still the one Lance had given him to wear to the party- and then the pants- again, those leggings- and by that point, he began feeling numb. None of this mattered. It wasn't like he was worth anything anyway, so what was his pride?

The world passed by in a blur. Later, Keith would only vaguely recall small things- silky, sheer material pulled over his head, some sort of makeup, and distant thoughts.  _Is this what omegas are treated like? Dolls? Just little playthings to fulfill whatever desires you may have?_

When the beta left, they pressed a piece of paper into his hand. The guards left, too, without even an announcement that told him when Keith was to be auctioned. But he didn't really need it, did he? Nothing would change. They probably thought there wasn't any point in telling an omega, anyway, because what did he know?

But when the guards were gone, Keith looked down at the paper in his hand and unfolded it. Written in the center was-

_The guards will return soon enough to retrieve you for the auction._

_Prince is working with us._

_Voltron is with you._

Keith frowned down at the paper for a moment, rereading it several times, before wondering-  _Is this a rescue?_

Keith was never the best at picking up social cues.

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay i swear this was going to be longer but then i got distracted by reading this really good book
> 
> and then i realized i still have stuff to do
> 
> and i have to go out and be a functioning member of society in like ten minutes
> 
> so i'm going to attempt to upload what was meant to be the second half of this chapter tomorrow? so expect that pretty soon
> 
> (it's got a nice lance pov again)
> 
> thanks for reading y'all
> 
> sorry


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the second half of what was intended to be uploaded yesterday  
> the gang is ready  
> lotor's a sneaky boi  
> KEITH ARE YOU OKAY??

"Okay, where the fuck do auctions actually happen?" Lance demanded, flipping the paper map that Pidge had given him upside down. "Pidge, what am I supposed to do with this? This doesn't tell me anything."

"Yeah," Pidge said, not even bothering to look up from where she was rapidly typing on her computer. "It's just to keep your tiny alpha brain distracted while I figure this out."

Lance sighed and tapped his foot anxiously. "Pidge-"

"I got it!" she exclaimed, cutting into what he was about to say. The others all looked up from where they were moping on Allura's couch. "Apparently it's a fairly exclusive event, since I guess not a lot of people were born at this time? But mostly, the important thing is Keith. The government knows they're going to get a lot of money from this. You have to pay a fee to get in, you have to pay your first offer in full even if you don't actually win anything, and there's a lot of high-class alphas in on this thing."

"Where are we going to get that much money?" Lance asked worriedly.

"Lance, buddy, hate to tell you this, but all of our families are swimming in money," Hunk reminded him. "If we all pitch in, we won't dent our accounts too badly, and we'll end up with as much as we need."

"So how do we plan on doing this?" Shiro asked. "Lance, I assume you want to be the one actually participating?"

Lance nodded firmly. "I can pass as eighteen, my birthday isn't that far away. And... um..."

"You don't have to pretend, Lance," Allura said with a smile. "We're all aware of your feelings for Keith. Of course you'd rather be the one with all the legal responsibility."

"Is she joking?" Hunk asked, glancing between all of them. "No, seriously. Is she?"

Pidge snorted and quickly typed something, then a small piece of paper slid out of her computer. Was that normal? Had she seriously built a computer that had a printer inside of it?

_Not the time, Lance._

She handed the paper to Lance, and he realized it wasn't actually paper- it was a card. Pidge's computer could  _print fake IDs?_ Jesus, how had Lance not known about this yet?

"Okay," Pidge said. "That's you. The account will transfer into your real account about a month after you turn eighteen, just for safety's sake. It's not a good idea to have a fake persona running around for too long with a registered omega and all."

"So... are we really doing this thing?" Hunk asked nervously.

Lance let out a long breath. "Yeah. Yeah, I think we are."

...

They spent as little time as possible emptying money into the fake account- Lance was now known as Alejandro Smith, and he was pretty sure Pidge did that on purpose- and getting their act together. When it was time to go, they were all exhausted but ready.

Why did they care so much about Keith? Because even though he had never treated them like his friends, they had grown to  _care_ about him. And the work that most of them did for the Voltron gang in their spare time convinced them that there was no way they could leave this alone. Keith  _mattered._ No matter what lies he had told, how little they knew about the real Keith, he was just like them.

A person.

A human being.

So why wouldn't they save him?

...

Nerves buzzed around in Lance's brain as he carefully stepped out of the car. Pidge followed behind, just in case things got bad and he'd need her skills.

The auction house loomed before them- an overly decorated building, with black paint and purple trim that Lance could've sworn wasn't even painted. They followed the small crowd through the doors and filed into line.

Lance rubbed his thumb over the edge of the fake ID card anxiously, worried that all of their careful preparations would be for nothing. This could go wrong a million different ways. He could be recognized. The card might not work. Someone would beat him in the auction.

He took a deep breath. This would be okay.

The ID thing went by like a breeze. It apparently doubled as a credit card, and that was good. Okay. Lance was in.

Everything was going smoothly until they told Pidge she had to wait outside, and Lance felt someone grab hold of his jacket- a nice one he had stolen from Hunk, so it was pretty big- and guided him through the crowd.

"Wha- hey!"

The stranger didn't respond, but they had long white hair, like Allura's, and that kinda thing was hard to come by. So this guy was either really showy, or someone important- and Lance wasn't sure which option he'd rather have.

The stranger led him out of the crowd and into a distant corner. He turned to Lance, a curious look in his eyes. "So I assume you're here for... Keith?"

Lance stiffened. "Yeah, what've you got to say about it?"

"Nothing," he said, studying his nails idly. "But we both have a common interest here,  _Lance._ Keeping him away from my father."

"Your father...?" Realization suddenly dawned on Lance. "You're Lotor, aren't you?"

"I suppose you do have a brain cell in your body," Lotor commented. "That's always a bonus. I've heard that you've grown to quite like that little omega."

"And?" Lance growled.

"I suppose if you're here, McClain, then you'd like to keep this outside of the law," Lotor said. "Here's the deal- you take the omega, keep him away from the public eye, and don't breathe a word of my involvement. I'll get a vulnerability in my father after the loss of huge propaganda potential, and it'll be easy for me to dismantle his little 'empire' from there. Take it or leave it. And I'm afraid-" -one of his hands drifted down to his opposite wrist, lifting up a cuff and allowing Lance to see a tiny sliver of metal- "-that if you leave it, you won't see the light of another day."

Lance stared at him. This seemed to good to be true. No way. But... it might be his only opportunity. "I'll take it."

...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also i forgot to address this, but why aren't they already eighteen and in college? uh... bad planning. how about they skipped a grade. probably pre-kindergarten or whatever it's called now. can you imagine zarkon as a little baby pre-kindergartener? will it haunt your nightmares? it sure haunts mine now that i've thought of it. oops.
> 
> thanks for reading! see y'all next week


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the auction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao sorry this is late i had like 5 minutes to write yesterday  
> hope this makes up for that

Keith kept the letter hidden in his hand, pressing against it every so often to ground himself, but it was hard to stay together. He couldn't turn any of his racing thoughts into words, and he tried not to move, or he would feel the shift of the uncomfortable clothing against his skin. He didn't speak, because it might earn him... some sort of gag. Something. Keith didn't open his eyes, because it was safer to avoid reality than to face it.

When the guards returned, Keith let them pull him up harshly and quietly followed them. He didn't open his eyes, even though he heard the voices.

_omegaomegaomegaomegaomega_

_You're not human anymore,_ Keith reminded himself.  _They don't see you as anything. They'd probably laugh at your idea of freedom._

Uneasiness settled uncomfortably in his stomach, but that was nothing new. When was Keith ever relaxed?

_With your friends,_ his mind whispered traitorously. Keith fought to get those thoughts out of his head. He should never have gotten close to them. They had done nothing but get him to this place.

His jaw tightened, but hopefully it wouldn't be noticeable. What good was an aggressive omega? Keith's mother was dead, after all. Whoever she was. The first omega in recorded history to fight back, as far as he knew. And it had gotten her killed.

_Guess you should get rid of all of that, then,_ he thought, torn between honesty and sarcasm.  _Won't do you any favors._

The voices grew louder, and Keith guessed they were approaching... wherever he would be sold.  _Auctioned off._ Like some sort of object. Like the omega he pretended he wasn't.

Keith took a deep breath, which he regretted. Dozens of unfamiliar and clashing scents filled his nose, and he wanted to cough, but that probably wouldn't be a good idea. Just... the sheer number of people, mostly alphas, that lay ahead made him sick.

Then he was stumbling up some steps, and his ears were attacked with loud noises. Keith wanted to block them out, pretend they weren't there, but he stood still, his eyes shut tightly, muscles tense, trembling worse than he had ever before.

There was no denying reality now.

Carefully, he opened one eye, and he briefly spotted blue eyes in the crowd of people, but it wasn't _Lance_. Why would it be? There were probably hundreds of alphas in the world that had blue eyes... and Lance would never come for him, anyway.

Voices began raising above the crowd, and as Keith became more adjusted to everything, he relaxed. Put his shoulders back. Lifted his chin. Opened his eyes. Stared down at all of those people who had no idea what he was,  _who_ he was, and they never would.

Keith was an omega, yes.

Keith was sensitive, yes.

Keith was afraid, yes.

But Keith was also strong.

Brave.

Unashamed.

Refused to say that any of the people in this room were better than him. They weren't. Their value was not any higher than his. He would not be bullied into submission.

An idea occurred to Keith- could he be an omega  _alongside_ being the person he aspired to be?

Did he have to be one or the other?

The noise in the crowd died down, and Keith wondered if he was really having some sort of affect, before he spotted the people parting to reveal that same white-haired alpha. He resisted the urge to curl his lip. Great. 

Lotor said something, and then everyone fell silent.

And then someone appeared at Lotor's side and slipped in front of him, taking the center of attention. Brown hair. Tan skin. Blue eyes. Charming smile.

Lance?

And Keith felt like the world was crashing down around him, and how did no one else realize how monumental this was? Why did they not see his suddenly-shaking hands and quicker breaths?

Keith stared at him, but Lance's eyes didn't meet his own.

Then Lance said something that Keith didn't understand, and a minute passed by in total silence. Keith was left wondering what he said- was there some sort of divider between him and the people that he didn't see that kept him from making sense of their words?- and what would happen to him now. 

Keith was then ushered off the stage, and they turned down a different corner. Lance was at the end of the long hallway, and he swallowed nervously as they grew closer and closer.

When they reached Lance, the alpha easily reached over and grabbed Keith's hand. Keith followed him away, and didn't look back.

_What does this mean?_

...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what's going to happen to the bois now, you say?  
> well  
> i've got stuff planned, don't worry  
> ;)
> 
> hope you enjoyed! again, sorry it's a day late!


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> keith halfheartedly attempts to be the subservient lower-class citizen he thinks he should be  
> lance is confused as fuck  
> klance runs rampant

"Lance?" Keith asked quietly as they walked swiftly through the empty hall. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm saving you, idiot," Lance grumbled, his grip on Keith's wrist tightening. "You didn't think I'd just leave you here, did you?" He turned his head and offered a wry grin. "Plus, we have a lot to talk about."

Keith flushed and tried to look away from that smile. "You're referring to... to me being an omega? Whatever happened the other night? If... if all of this was just a lie?"

"Something like that," Lance said thoughtfully with a nod. "But we're going somewhere safer before we do that, 'cause this place is giving me  _vibes._ "

"Yeah, because this building has been 'home' to thousands of omegas sold as slaves," Keith mumbled.

"What?"

Keith looked up at Lance and shook his head. "Nothing." He looked back down.

He could practically  _feel_ Lance's eyes on him and mouth twisted into a frown, but Keith... didn't know what to do just yet. Everything was turned upside down and he didn't know what the fuck to make of it all. Was Lance working with Lotor, for some reason? Where was Lotor, anyway? Why was everything suddenly going so smoothly? Was this some sort of joke?

Keith screwed his eyes shut and tried not to think about that. He tried to focus on the present. How was he supposed to act with Lance now? Did... didn't Lance own him now? Would he expect Keith to be quiet and obedient and all that shit? He'd never been like that before. He'd never  _embraced_ his omega side. No one had ever asked him to act like an omega. No one  _knew._

_Everyone knows now._

The thought nearly made Keith flinch. Everyone  _knew._ They knew he wasn't an alpha, they knew he wasn't just not too well-off, they knew it was all  _fake._ He wasn't strong, he wasn't brave, he wasn't honest, he wasn't a good person. He wasn't an alpha or a beta. He was just an  _omega._ A little dumb omega that thought it would be fun to play alpha, an idiot that thought maybe he could pretend he wasn't what he really was and fool everyone.

But they figured it out easily. He wasn't fooling anyone.

And now everyone knew.

They knew that kid in their class, walking through the halls of the school, the kid they saw in the library or out around campus, serving coffee with a fake smile, beside Lance, Pidge, Hunk, Shiro, and Allura...

Everyone knew that that person was a lie. A goddamn omega.

Keith was an omega.

He nearly stopped walking. Admitting that fact to himself so... so blatantly, for what felt like the first time ever, gave him a jolt.

_Maybe I should just... act like an omega? Maybe they'll like me? Maybe they'll leave me alone? Maybe I'll make Lance happy and repay him for everything he's done for me?_

Keith silently nodded to himself. Okay. Maybe... maybe he could do that.

He swallowed anxiously and pulled his wrist away from Lance's grasp. Lance glanced at him with an almost apologetic look on his face, but Keith entwined his fingers with Lance's, and Lance's expression melted into a more relaxed, happy smile.

"We'll be out of here soon," Lance promised.

Keith nodded.

...

When they reached Lance's car, Lance quickly opened the door and piled in, Keith following. He pulled the door shut and voices exploded inside the car.

"Keith!"

"You're okay!"

"I'm so glad!"

Keith cringed back uncomfortably, and his gaze flicked to Lance's.  _Help?_ Wasn't there some noise that omegas could make to call for help? Had they at least been blessed with that?

Thankfully, Lance seemed to understand. "Woah, guys," he said as the car began to move. "Let him relax, he's been..." he paused. "Actually, where do they keep you?"

"In a cell," Keith said quietly.  _Leave it to clueless rich alphas to have no clue what goes on with fellow members of their species._ "It... it wasn't great."

"Glad Shay didn't have to do that," Hunk said quietly.

"So how did it happen?" Pidge asked. "Like, are we all wanted by the government now? Because seriously, they kicked me out. Like my poor innocent beta eyes haven't seen things."

Actually, Keith wanted the answer to that, too.

They all turned to look at Lance, with the exception of Shiro, who was a bit busy driving.

"It was Lotor," Lance explained awkwardly. "Zarkon's... son. He gave me enough money to out-bid everyone else, so with our combined money, no one could even get close."

"Does he expect something from us?" Allura asked, her eyes wide.

"I have no idea," Lance confessed. "He just said he'd 'be in contact soon.'"

"Should we work with Voltron?" Shiro suggested.

"The gang?"

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dun dun dunnn
> 
> okay so i was listening to a bunch of old songs that i listened to as a smol child(aka like 3 years ago so not really but anyway) while i wrote this  
> and holy fuck NOSTALGIA  
> i listened to so much pop music smh(for example, i liked demi lovato and i don't understand w h y)  
> i thought i was so cool
> 
> anyway, i'm going to go back to watching old agt/bgt auditions because this is what i do in my freetime  
> hope y'all liked this chapter  
> have a nice day!
> 
>  
> 
> ****edit 10/17  
> okay so i meant to write this yesterday  
> but then i was busy  
> and then today  
> and i was busy  
> and tomorrow  
> but turns out i'll be busy  
> and friday  
> but guess i'll be busy then too  
> and saturday  
> i'll probably write this on saturday if i'm not totally exhausted?  
> this is the first time i've had a good social life okay don't judge me  
> so chapter 25 will be coming out sometime between the 19th and the 21st.
> 
> sorry y'all


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> keith continues to confuse the fuck out of everyone, including himself  
> the voltron gang  
> not-so-sweet klance

Everyone turned to look at Keith with expressions ranging from surprise to guilt.

"Well..." Allura began, then glanced away. "The Voltron gang..."

"Allura's family founded it," Pidge explained bluntly. "My parents are involved too, and that's why I was there that day."

"It's kind of how we found Shay," Hunk added. "She was hiding in the alley while I was on patrol, I guess, and looking for help, since she'd heard that Voltron were sympathizers."

"It's how I lost my arm," Shiro offered, waving his robot arm in the air. "And how I got my scar. Zarkon's army is pretty violent."

"Have you really never heard about it before?" Lance asked. "I thought everyone knew that, especially since they were kind of your only help."

"No," Keith admitted with a frown. "I... bought scent blockers and heat suppressors from them, but I always kind of figured that they sold them because they were illegal, and they were for like... gang members or prisoners or something... or people that didn't want their omegas to go into heat or be distracted by them."

"Don't people talk about Voltron on the streets?" Pidge asked. "Or at least on the news? You would think omega sympathizers would get a whole lot more recognition."

"I didn't even know there were other free omegas out there until Shay," Keith said. "I... kind of figured I was the only one, so anyone that was willing to help omegas seemed like some stupid fantasy I'd made up."

Allura sighed. "Unfortunately, that seems to be the running trend. Most omegas don't know we're out there, and if they do, they're frightened that we're only a trick."

"And we can't really advertise," Hunk pointed out. "That's practically begging to be torn apart."

"Oh," Keith said quietly. He turned his head to look out the window instead, watching the scenery go by. Lance nudged him gently, and he glanced quickly at the taller boy's warm smile. Keith belatedly realized that their hands were still clasped together. He was tempted to pull them apart, but he didn't, and he told himself it was out of fear of consequences. Keith ignored the tiny part of himself that  _wanted_ to hold Lance's hand.

"What are we going to do now?" Lance asked. "We can't really go back to school now, can we?"

"Everyone knows," Keith muttered.

"We could head to Allura's," Shiro suggested.

The others exchanged glances, then nodded.

"Then that is where we will go," Allura decided.

...

After a while, Keith began to realize that he didn't recognize any of the scenery. "Where are we going?"

"Oh," Pidge said, seeming to realize something. "I forgot you didn't know. The house where the party was, a few days ago? That was where Allura lives, but she has this top-secret headquarters thing."

"It's awesome," Lance jumped in. "Her other house is cool, but this place has  _zip lines."_

"And a giant table," Hunk said excitedly. "Plus an upside-down pool."

"Upside-down pool?"

"You'll know it when you see it," Shiro said by way of explanation, although that did nothing to clear up Keith's utter confusion.

The conversation began to turn to random babble about the things in Allura's other house, and it turned to white noise in Keith's brain. He instead turned his thoughts to one  _very important_ question:

What the  _fuck_ was he supposed to do now?

...

After an unnecessarily long car ride, Shiro finally brought them to a stop, and Keith didn't have to fake his amazement at the structure before them. It was  _huge,_ a beautiful white and blue building built almost like a castle, with four  _turrets._ What house had  _turrets?_

Keith stared at it all for a moment once he got out of the car. Did anyone actually live there? Was this real? How- what-

"It's a bit crazy, huh?"

Keith glanced at Lance. "Yeah, I... I guess it is."

"Have you ever seen a house this big?" Lance asked. "Like, it was definitely  _wow_ for me, and I have a huge family mansion. Allura's dad was crazy-rich. He had like a million different jobs or something."

"That's cool," Keith mumbled, looking down at the ground. "So, um..."

Lance sighed. "I guess we have a lot to talk about, right?"

"Mhmm." Keith risked a look up at Lance's face, but he shyed away last-minute and realized the others were already gone. "Where did they go?"

"To their rooms, I guess?" Lance shrugged. "We're probably not going back to school..."

Keith gave a half-hearted laugh. "There goes my chance at an education, huh?"

"Yeah..." Lance looked away for a second before continuing. "I know things are kind of weird between us right now, but... since you don't really have a place to sleep or anything... you could stay with me? In my room?" He stumbled slightly over the words, and Keith pretended that wasn't adorable.

"I..." He paused, swallowed, then decided, "Yeah, sure, we can share a room." But his voice was too high and the words awkward, and the concerned look Lance gave him didn't help at all.

Lance led Keith into the building, and down several turns and long hallways that Keith easily forgot. He ignored the unease settled in his mind, and told himself that everything was  _fine,_ and there was nothing to be worried about.

Lying, of course, was easy.

After about two minutes of silence, Lance awkwardly said, "What was it like?"

"What was what like?"

"The... the place they kept you. After they took you."

Keith frowned down at the ground. "It was a prison cell. It was dark. There was a collar around my neck chained to the wall. That's... pretty much it."

Lance's eyes were wide. "Does that... happen a lot?"

"No?"

"Oh, sorry, you just... don't seem very surprised by it..."

Keith sighed. "It's the reality of omegas, and just because I escaped it when I was little doesn't mean I don't know it. If anything, I know more about it than anyone else who didn't grow up like that."

Lance stopped walking and tugged Keith over to the wall, where he sat down, leaning back on it. Keith followed slowly. He drew his knees up and hugged them exhaustedly. This was it, wasn't it? They were going to... talk.

"What was it like? Growing up the way you did?"

"Well... my mother was an omega, and I don't really remember much of her. She... wasn't around as often as she should've been. Zarkon whored her off to whoever he felt like. He's not my actual father, and because of that, he can get away with treating me the way he did, both when I was little and when I was captured." Keith paused before continuing quietly, "Once I turned out to be an omega, he was going to take me away from her... send me to an omega camp. I didn't know that was what happened to omegas until recently. My mother told me to run, and I got away."

Keith sneaked a look at Lance, who had an expression twisted between curiosity and horror. He was nodding, and his eyes met Keith's briefly, urging him to continue. "I... ran away into the underworld, and by the time I was seven people just... forgot about me."

Lance nodded. "And then... you decided to go to school?"

"Yeah." Keith hugged his knees just a little tighter. "I forged the documents and got in, and... here I am."

"Keith, listen, I..." Lance hesitated. "You know the morning after the party, where we got into a fight and you ran?"

Keith nodded. "You accused me of being an omega. Guess you were right."

"No, you... you actually told me."

"When?" Keith panicked a little. It was too late now, really, but... old habits die hard.

"You got super drunk and a guy took you upstairs, but I saw you leave, so I stopped him before anything happened." Lance looked  _guilty._ "You kind of worked yourself up into some weird... omega thing, and you were calling him alpha, and I was kinda stupid... joked about alphas acting like omegas... and then you told me it wasn't a kink, it was the truth."

Keith stared at him, eyes wide, frozen. Gradually, his shoulders sunk down, and he hung his head. "There are... so many things wrong with that."

Lance gave a tiny chuckle. "Yeah, guess so..."

They sat there for a while. They didn't talk. They were just... together. And it was the most relaxed Keith had felt in so, so long. He carefully leaned into Lance, who froze for a second before easily draping an arm around him and letting Keith lean on him.

It was nice.

After a while, Lance eventually let out a long breath. "C'mon, let's get to my room." He helped Keith up with a small smile, and Keith followed him down more hallways, until they finally stopped in front of a door. Lance opened it and gestured dramatically for Keith to enter, which he did.

Lance closed the door behind them, and once he did, he looked at Keith for a moment before saying, "You know, if you feel uncomfortable and you want to leave you can, or I could sleep on the floor..."

_Because you own me now?_

Keith just shook his head and sat down on the bed, then reached for Lance's arm and tugged him over to join. Lance gave a wobbly grin.

"Okay, um... it's kind of late, so...?"

Keith pulled off his shoes, then flopped down to lay on the bed, Lance quickly doing the same. After a few moments, Keith dragged himself up and pulled the sheets over them. It was warm, and Keith was fairly sure he was about to fall asleep. So he curled up with his back to Lance, and just before he fell asleep, he felt Lance's arms wrap around the middle.

It was safer than Keith had felt in a long time.

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao i did it  
> soft bois because someone needs to have a beautiful love life and it's certaintly not me
> 
> happy birthday to Winter Wolf! (and to my irl friend who i sincerely hope never discovers anything close to this)
> 
> :)  
> expect an update on tuesday but don't be surprised if it's late ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lil bit of soft bois with a drop of angst
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> okay it's a bit more than a drop

How many times had he woken up like this?

Soft. Warm. Morning light filtering through curtains.

Off the top of his head, Keith could count it on the fingers of one hand- once, the night he had met Shay, and he had apparently woken curled up with Lance the next morning. But after that... nothing. There had been the morning after the party, but that wasn't really Keith's idea of  _nice._ And since then, Keith hadn't exactly had a nice warm bed.

It occurred to him, in the back of his mind, that if he had been in this situation a year ago- hell, probably a  _week_ ago- that he would have immediately thought of failure in every way. He had lost everything, and he would never be anything but an  _omega._ No school, no happiness, and he had clearly failed in trusting someone if he had ended up sold in the first place. But... but this?

 _Lance did buy you from the auction,_ Keith reminded himself, but he couldn't bring himself to really believe that Lance was  _bad._ That fact in of itself would  _never_ lead to anything good, but...

He had been running away his whole life. Couldn't he take a break for once and just... relax? Let the chain that had been pulling at him ever since he was born go lax, and just... be.

Keith inhaled and held it for a moment before letting go and burying himself in the blankets, allowing Lance's warmth to envelope him. His eyes easily slipped closed, and Keith decided that if he had lost everything, he might as well embrace losing that burden.

...

When Keith woke once more, Lance's comforting presence was gone from behind him, and that was enough to get him to drag himself up into a seated position.

The sound of running water caught Keith's ear, and his gaze narrowed in on the small crack of light from beneath the bathroom door. He looked up at the handle, then let out a huff and flopped back down. There was no point in doing anything else. He had no idea where he was, and he didn't feel compelled to get up, so Keith stayed down. He stared up at the ceiling for a moment before closing his eyes.

_You're fine. You'refineyou'refineyou'refine._

Keith wasn't sure what he was supposed to do now. What was expected of him. This was Voltron's headquarters, right? So... did that mean that they were part of some sort of rebellion now? Or were Voltron just a group of disillusioned, hypocritical fools, and Lance kept Keith as an omega anyway?

_He's not like that. Right? That's not who Lance is._

Keith chewed at the inside of his lip anxiously. Maybe they were playing him. Tricking him into a false sense of security, and eventually... convince him to just be an omega. That seemed a bit devious of a plan for them from what he knew, but obviously, Keith hadn't been paying attention to the others as much as they had him. So... what did he really know about them, anyway?

_You're not actually friends. You're probably just a means to an end- and that end is probably you sitting pretty at Lance's side, with children you barely care about, and-_

He growled a little, shoving the blanket off of himself. Cold air hit him, and he almost regretted that, but he refused to admit weakness and curl up under it again. Keith sat up, and he carefully carded his fingers through his tangled hair.

_Good omegas always look beautiful for their alpha._

_Shut the fuck up._

Keith tugged on his hair sharply, and bit back a noise at the sting. He knew he was just working himself up, but he couldn't figure out how to calm down- and if he even  _wanted_ to calm down. Maybe everyone would get mad if he was mad, and they would cast him out on the streets again, since they probably wouldn't give him back to the government, and he could start over. Cut his hair. Wear makeup. Contacts. Something.

_What if you just... run away?_

A glance back to the light under the bathroom door. The sound of running water. Then a look at the entrance to the room. This place was huge- he could probably escape notice if he ran now, before Lance came back.

Then Keith's gaze lowered, while confusion and conflict writhed in his gut. His instincts told him to  _stay,_ to believe that Lance would figure everything out, and they would be okay, while his mind screamed for him to  _leave,_ leave and  _never come back._

Then the water turned off. Keith hissed out his frustration, both at the situation and himself.

_You should've gone._

He felt frozen for a moment, then he turned to face the wooden headboard of the bed and banged his head into it. It made a loud noise, and Keith immediately recoiled from the pain, unable to stop a small whine from coming out.

Then the door clicked as it opened, and Keith must have been frozen for longer than he thought, because there was Lance, looking at him with concern.

"You okay, Keith?"

Keith glanced at the headboard, then to the door, then to Lance. Then he ducked his head down.

"Yeah, I just... hit my head. On accident." He swallowed. "I'm fine."

He wasn't fine.

...

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for not updating last week! i lost motivation, a bit, but i've made some changes to my lifestyle, and my productivity is higher than it's been in weeks lmao  
> so i can't promise anything, but hopefully, we'll get back onto the tuesday schedule.
> 
> happy early halloween!  
> (or just happy halloween, if you're not reading this on the 30th)
> 
> also i just realized that i've written over 30,000 words of this trash and i'm so disappointed in myself


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lance embarrasses himself, as per usual.  
> keith takes a shower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol okay so listen  
> i swear this'll be good enough to make up for missing like three weeks

So. Keith wasn't okay. What else was new?

"Keith, are you sure you're okay?"

Keith glanced over at Lance from where he was quite strategically placed at the end of the bed- the furthest away from Lance he could possibly get. "Yeah, I'm fine. Really, Lance. You can quit asking."

That was a bit of his old flare, right? That sounded like himself? Or did Lance... not want him to sound like himself? Really, Keith would rather Lance get the whole introduction thing out of the way, and he could just know how Lance wanted him to behave.

"Alright, um... do you maybe want to take a shower or something?" Lance must have noticed how Keith's eyes widened slightly, because he quickly backtracked. "Because... you probably haven't showered or anything lately, at least not in a nice shower, and alone of course! Because I already showered. And it was great! Yeah, you should totally shower and I'll go figure out what Hunk's cooking for breakfast, and we'll be set for today."

Just to take him out of his misery, Keith nodded, although he wasn't sure if it helped his own misery at all. "I... guess I'll do that."

"Awesome!" Lance had never sounded so forced, and his face was suspiciously red, so Keith figured it would be best to make this as easy as possible. As long as he didn't try to do much, Lance would probably be fine. He clearly didn't need Keith just to make him blush, so just going along with whatever he wanted would be fine. Although Keith wasn't sure how much he really wanted to take a shower in a mysterious place and maybe not see Lance at the end of it, since he was apparently going to see Hunk.

Oh well.

Lance directed Keith to the closet, where he found an outfit that looked like it would be fine, if not a bit large, and with that, Lance sped out of the room, leaving Keith alone.

An odd sinking feeling settled in Keith's stomach, but surely it was just the fact that something was expected of him. It definitely wasn't that he...  _needed_ Lance. That would be ridiculous. He was perfectly fine by himself, and he had been alone his entire life. It wouldn't make sense to suddenly become dependent on someone.

Keith let out a sigh and gathered the clothing in his arms, then made his way to the bathroom.

...

Did Keith hate his body?

Not necessarily.

But yes.

Did he hate seeing it?

Not always.

But yes.

Was that the reason why he decided to shower with all of his clothing on?

No.

Was it that he felt unsafe?

Maybe.

Was it that, after such a harsh reminder from society, he didn't feel like facing the truth?

Probably.

Was it that Keith was generally done with anything that involved him feeling uncomfortable in his own skin?

Yes.

When Keith stepped out of the shower, he was ready to declare that he would never not feel uncomfortable, because damp clothing wasn't fun in its own way. But there wasn't really anything he could do about it, so he quickly dried what he could and changed into the new clothes Lance had given him.

It wasn't very clear who these clothes belonged to. Lance? Maybe, because Lance was taller than him. But generally, most people were taller than him, so maybe that wasn't a good standard to go by. Maybe they just... came with the room? That seemed a little insane, especially to Keith, who had barely had enough money for two or three outfits at any given point in time. But Allura was apparently crazy-rich, so who knew?

Keith grabbed the towel once again and attempted to dry his hair again, as it was probably ruining this maybe-expensive/maybe-Lance's shirt, but in the process of doing so, he caught a glance of himself in the mirror, and that gave him pause.

Whatever makeup the beta had put on him back at the auction house had washed off, but that only gave him an opportunity to look at himself. Just...  _look._

It was easy to see the small things. Keith had black hair. Keith had pale skin. Keith wasn't very tall. If you looked closer- Keith had violet eyes. He assumed they were from his mother. Keith had just a little bit of a soft look on his features, although his nose and chin were sharper. Keith had hips a little wider than an alpha or a beta, although it didn't seem to be noticeable enough for most to realize he was an omega.

His mouth twitched down into a frown, and his eyes shot to it. It didn't mean much. He was just... an unhappy kid looking at himself in the mirror.

_Kid._ Keith was eighteen now. He couldn't avoid the real world anymore. People wouldn't avoid him anymore, either. A runaway omega, old enough to legally take away without complaint, now visible to the entire world.

_Everyone knows._

Keith swallowed down whatever unhappy noise he was tempted to make right now. He was away from the government, from the auction, and no one could take him away right now.

_Unless they figure out whatever Lance did to get you here, or they find Voltron, or..._

_or..._

Even his own thoughts were sick of thinking of the negatives.

Keith let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding and relaxed his shoulders, then opened the door and stepped out of the bathroom. The room outside was still empty. Lance wasn't back yet.

He put his clothes in a small pile in the corner of the room, then sat back down at the end of the bed, his legs dangling just above the floor.

He thought about running again, then shook his head. There wasn't really any point. Like he had thought time and time again- Keith had been running his entire life, but that had come to an end. Why bother trying again?

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyyyy  
> sorry for not updating in so long! but i have an idea of what's going to happen next chapter, so hopefully i'll get that done next week!  
> (or maybe even earlier because i've got a long weekend and motivation so here's hoping)  
> i broke my arm and couldn't type for a while, but i've healed enough for that, so i'll actually be doing something with my life again instead of bingewatching every single try guys video.  
> hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! :)  
> (also that last end note was pretty depressing, but i do love writing this story, even if it is trash, thanks for all of the nice comments that were too nice for me to respond to properly!)


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> keith realizes something.  
> lance needs to relax.  
> their reaction to these things brings them to a place that they can't come back from.  
> neither of them are sure if they even want to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a healthy way to deal with heartbreak, right??

Keith sat on the bed and waited for Lance to come back for a long time. It felt like hours. Maybe it was hours? He wasn't sure. Either way, it seemed like an eternity that he attempted to sit perfectly still, doing nothing but... waiting. Was this what a good omega was supposed to do? Lance seemed to leave a lot. Keith might as well figure out how to make it tolerable now before hours turned to days or weeks. Keith probably couldn't go out in public anymore.

That made him wonder about his scent blockers and heat suppressors. He was probably due for another pill soon, right? And after taking a shower, he probably needed to reapply scent blockers. But Keith didn't have either of those things right now, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to risk whatever tentative calm his life had become for something that might make Lance mad.

Something that might make  _his alpha_ mad.

Keith spent the rest of the time waiting for Lance thinking about that. Part of him, the logical part of him that wanted nothing to do with children or sex or obedience, refused to accept that statement. He didn't want or need an  _alpha._ Even the idea of it was something disgusting that he wouldn't dare touch, because it meant something that Keith didn't want to think about. It was a life Keith had always been running away from, and a life that he never wanted to call his own.

But the other part of him, that purely instinctual omega inside of him, liked that sense of belonging, that sense of love that  _shouldn't be there._ But it was. Love. Keith loved Lance. Maybe Lance loved Keith. And maybe that was the curse. Maybe there was real love between alphas and omegas, even though Keith had thought the opposite for the majority of his life. It was a twisted, dark kind of love, born out of a forced relationship with a massive imbalance in power that made it impossible to be  _pure,_ the way love should be.

What was love, anyway? That distorted version of love displayed to the rest of the world was all people ever knew. How could anyone bring themselves to find out what  _real_ romantic emotion for another person was? What was the point to it? Why should anyone bother?

And suddenly, Keith realized why other omegas couldn't bring themselves to rebel.

_Why should they?_

Keith took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

Maybe there was still hope. There were alphas like Shiro and Allura out there. Omegas like Shay were beginning to tear themselves free of their chains. Things could still get better. Society would progress eventually, right?

But maybe Keith could help them? Maybe... maybe now that Keith was finally a part of the machine, he could figure out how to break others away?

He almost laughed and broke his perfect, frozen posture. Him? He was defeated, wasn't he? Maybe he was at the headquarters of the largest gang in the country, the group most likely to change people's opinions, but that didn't mean he was free. God, all of his thoughts in the past day had centered around how best to please and obey Lance. The man that had  _bought him from an auction_ for more money than Keith would ever lay eyes on.

Keith was just as broken as all of the others.

He closed his eyes and continued to sit still until Lance came back.

...

_"Alright, bye Hunk!"_

Keith almost jolted when he heard Lance's voice outside of the door, and he resisted the urge to perk up.

"Okay, now it's time to-" The door opened, and Lance took a few steps inside before spotting Keith and freezing. "Keith? You're still here? Did you, um... eat?"

"No," Keith said quietly, keeping his head down and not looking at Lance. "I was- I was just waiting for you to come back."

"Dude, it's like... one in the afternoon now. How long have you been sitting here?"

 _One?_ So it had been a long time. "Why didn't you come back?"

Lance sighed and closed the door. Keith couldn't read his expression. "I just needed to... clear my head, y'know? And I thought you would be gone by the time I got back. Since you left our dorm all the time. I just figured... things would kinda be back to the way they were. Ish. Except we're living here, and you can't go back to college but now that we're apparently legally bonded together I should probably get a job to provide for us since you can't so I have to keep going to school-"

Lance's mindless babble was kind of getting on Keith's nerves, which seemed like something that should've happened when they weren't legally bound. But Keith used to find it kind of endearing. But at this moment in time, he really couldn't take it.

"What do you want from me, Lance?"

The alpha finally paused. Keith straightened his posture once again as it had slipped in his lack of concentration when he realized Lance's eyes were flickering all around the room like he was searching for an answer and he couldn't really find it. It would be best to look good for his alpha, right?

Keith wanted to choke on those words.

"Listen, Keith... All of this stuff is going on right now, and I don't really know what to do. But we'll get through this together, okay?"

Keith bit his lip and almost didn't reply, but he couldn't hold back his answer. "That doesn't answer my question." The words came out cold and pointed, and he tried to keep his face an expressionless mask. What good would it do?

Lance took a deep breath, and he completely froze. His eyes dragged up and down Keith's body like he was seeing him in a new light. Like he was appraising meat or grading a test.

Keith wondered if he failed.

He would know soon enough.

"Have you been wearing scent blockers the entire time I've known you?" Lance asked, taking a step forward then stopping.

"Y-yes," Keith stuttered, trying to keep his eyes fixed on his hands, which were clasped together in his lap. Lance stepped closer. He wasn't too far away from Keith anymore.

"You shouldn't have bothered," Lance said quietly. God, when did he get so close? He was only a few steps away now. "You're irresistible- it's like vanilla and smoke and rain at the same time, and goddamn, I definitely wouldn't have told you no."

"Really?" Keith said, unable to help the little bit of flirtation that crept into his voice. Lance was  _right there._ Keith broke his solid position in favor of spreading his legs slightly and moving his hands to balance his weight there instead. He finally looked up at Lance and smiled a little. An offering. "You're a bit like rain, too." Keith had never strayed far from the city, but he bet that if he went into a forest after it rained, that was the scent that would surround him.

_What are you doing, you fucking idiot?_

But the logical part of him was gone, and all Keith really wanted now was  _Lance._ Lance, Lance, Lance.

Lance stepped between his legs, and a thrill went through Keith's body. He swallowed back his nerves and matched Lance's ocean blue gaze.

"Are you sure you...?" Lance said, and that made Keith hesitate, but after a moment, both parts of him were in agreement. Maybe he wanted an alpha to fuck him until he couldn't breathe. And maybe he wanted a true emotional connection with someone that he could learn to care about. And maybe- just maybe, although that whisper of uncertainty was growing smaller and smaller- it would be helpful. Maybe... maybe he could get places in the world. Maybe he could use whatever he and Lance had between them. Lance's family was hella rich- he could use this.

But right now, Keith wasn't too worried about his future.

"We're already legally bound, aren't we? Might as well seal the deal."

Lance nodded, and Keith's last coherent thought was that he hoped to god it hadn't been a month yet.

The bed must have been higher off the ground than Keith realized, because Lance didn't have to bend too far down for his mouth to meet Keith's.

And when it did?

Keith saw fucking  _stars._

Even though Keith claimed to know all about what the world of sex was like for omegas, no one ever told him it would be like  _this._

The warmth of Lance's mouth spread through his whole body, lighting him on fire in a way he'd only ever imagined, and even then, it was better than anything he could have dreamed up. Lance's soft lips gently moving against Keith's own was the only feeling Keith wanted to feel for the rest of his life. He would die in happy ecstasy, all of his problems finally fading away in favor of something better, something more tantalizing and calming yet energizing at the same time.

Keith smiled against Lance's lips and slowly figured out how to kiss back, and  _damn_ was it worth it because the small growl Lance made sent shivers up Keith's spine.

Lance pushed him back onto the bed without breaking their kiss, flicking a little bit of tongue into Keith's mouth. Keith squeaked, both from Lance's sudden weight on top of him and between his legs and the new sensation. Lance pulled away for a second to grin down at him before coming back with vigor and passion, sending something burning through his body that he'd never felt before.

Keith didn't bother fighting Lance's tongue, instead letting it explore his mouth while he tentatively moved his arms up to wrap around Lance's neck. Lance made a pleased noise and grabbed onto Keith's hips tightly, grinding down against Keith.

A sqeak escaped Keith's mouth, and he almost pushed Lance away, uncertainty returning to the game. He- he wasn't ready. This wasn't right. He couldn't let Lance fuck him. God, Lance was just some alpha he'd met by chance a couple of months ago, and if not for him, Keith would never have ended up in this situation. He would never have ended up property of another person. He would have continued on with his life, staying as far away from alphas as possible, finishing university and going into a career he enjoyed, living and dying as the only omega that had ever survived life outside of prison camps and auctions and in the bed of someone he didn't care about.

But here Keith was, in another's bed, and he'd be damned if he wasn't loving it.

Falling in love with Lance was Keith's personal hell.

After a little longer, Lance finally broke away from Keith. They had hardly slowed down, but maybe Keith's hesitation was showing. Lance's eyes were slightly dilated- Keith's probably were too- when he looked back down at Keith. The alpha took a deep breath, paused and seemed to realize something despite the situation they were in.

"You smell like fear now," Lance muttered. "Why?"

"I don't know," Keith lied, turning his head away.

"You do," Lance pushed. "What are you afraid of?"

Keith paused, took in a deep breath of Lance's fresh scent- which had turned slightly musky in the past few minutes- and met those beautiful blue eyes. "You."

"You're afraid of me?"

"I'm afraid of you because I don't know what you want from me," Keith said quietly. "Do you- do you want me to be a good omega? Do you want me to sit still and look pretty and obey? If... if you want children, I can give you children. I can be good. I can be the best, I-"

Lance shook him slightly, taking Keith out of his spiral. His pupils were even bigger now, and Keith knew he liked that idea. He tried to ignore the knot in his stomach. But as it turned out, Lance solved that problem for him. "I only want that if  _you_ want that, dumbass. I love you for... for that snarky, kinda confused guy I fell for. You being an omega is just... part of that. And maybe my instincts disagree with me right now, but I know for certain that I would never force you to do any of that."

Keith stared at him, trying to find the lie in his face. But there was none. There was nothing but pure honesty and an emotion that Keith could only guess was  _love._

_Love._

"I fucking love you, too," Keith mumbled before pulling Lance back down and burying his face in his shoulder.

Lance chuckled quietly and rolled them over so Keith was laying on Lance's chest. "You probably don't want me flattening you right now, and I don't think either of us are in the mood for sex right now."

Keith just made a muffled noise of affirmation.

Lance left one hand wrapped around Keith's waist and brought the other one up to stroke his hair. "I love you."

That would forever be the best moment in Keith's short, tragic life.

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao so remember how i said i had a long weekend and motivation
> 
> that didn't happen
> 
> i think i bingewatched gravity falls the next day or something and i fell into a dark place of reading questionable bipper fics until i remembered klance probably wasn't going to be canon and was sad about that and then season 8 happened so
> 
> there you go
> 
> i'm pretty fucking tired after writing that and why can't i find me someone to hold me like that
> 
> hope y'all enjoyed  
> :)


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